^^ 


THE  MEN  OF  '48. 


'J 


BEING  A  BRIEr  HISTOET   OF  THE   REPEAL    ASSOCIA* 
TION  AND   THE   IRISH   CONFEDERATION;   WITH 
SIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES   OF   THE   LEAD- 
ING ACTORS  IN  THE  LATTER  ORGAN- 
IZATION,  THEIR   PRINCIPLES, 
OPINIONS,  AND   LITER- 
ART  LABORS. 


BY 

COL.  JAMES  E.  McGEE,     £* 

author  of  "irish  soldiers  in  every  land," 
"lives  of  irishmen's  sons,"  etc. 


IN  ONE  VOLUME. 


BOSTOK  COLLEGE  LIBRART 
CHESTNUT  HILL,  MAbS, 


BOSTON : 

B.  O'LOUGHLTN, 

IRISH  NATIONAL  PUBLISHING  HOUSE. 

630  Washington  Street. 


C'or.yriffht.  1831. 
B.  O'LOUGHLIB. 


BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIB:^ARr 

CHESTNUT  HILL,  MA  021  67 


A 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Introductory — Ireland's  second  greatest  griev- 
ance— The  Act  of  Union—  Debasement  of  the  Irish 
people — Daniel  O'Connell — Catholic  struggles 
for  civil  rights — The  Emancipation  Act  of  1829 
— Agrarian  agitation — Symptoms  of  a  Eepeal 
movement. 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Repeal  Association — Establisliment  of  the 
Nation — Thomas  Davis — His  birth  and  edu- 
cation— Views  on  National  subjects — Prose  and 
Poetry — Influence  on  Irish  literature — Death — 
Opinions  of  his  cotemporaries.  .        .        _ 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  Repeal  year — Monster  Meetings — The  Net- 
tion —  Opening  of  Conciliation  Hall — "William 
Smith  O'Brien — His  birth  and  descent — Career 
in  parliament — Joins  the  Repeal  Association.     - 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Arrest  of  O'Connell,  John  O'Connell,  Duffy,  Gray, 
Barrett,  Ray,  Steele,  Rev.  Fathers  Tyrrell  and 
Tierney — Feeling  of  the  country — State  Trials 
—^Conviction — Effect  in  Parliament — Sentence 
and  Imprisonment — More  troops  for  Ireland — 
Reversal  of  Judgment — G^nj^ral  rejoicing. 


PAQS. 


29 


48 


76 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  V. 


PAGE. 


State  of  the  Country — Its  prosperity,  resources,  and 
revenue — Diminution  of  Crime — Rev.  Theobald 
Mathew — His  birth,  education,  and  services — His 
political  views — Effect  of  his  labors  in  the  Na- 
tional cause — Affection  for  the  ' '  Young  Ireland- 
ers  " — O'Connell's  and  O'Brien's  eulogies  on  his 
character. -93 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Symptoms  of  disunion  in  the  Repeal  Association — 
Charitable  Bequests  bill — Federalism  advocated 
by  O'Connell— Denounced  by  the  Nation  and 
O'Neil  Daunt — English  intrigues  at  Rome — The 
Papal  Rescript — Financial  reforms  proposed — 
Formation  of-  the  '83  Club— The  Queen's  Col-  • 
leges  bill — The  Irish  Hierarchy  on  education.     -       112 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Celebration  of  the  first  anniversary  of  the  30th  of 
May,  1844 — O'Connell  in  Thurles — Action  of  the 
British  parliament  respecting  absent  members — 
Michael  Doheny — William  Smith  O'Brien  and 
John  O'Connell — Imprisonment  of  the  former, 
dereliction  of  the  latter — Debate  in  Conciliation 
Hall — Address  of  the  '82  Club — More  dissen- 
sions— Approach  of  the  Famine.  .        -        -       140 

CHAPTER  VIH. 

Opening  of  Parliament — Coercion  and  Free  Trade — 
O'Connell  and  O'Brien  in  London — Defeat  of  the 
Tories — The  Whigs  in  office— Conciliation  Hall 
defies  them — Thomas  Francis  Meagher — Repeal 
abandoned — O'Gorman,  Mitchel,  and  Doheny— 


CONTENTS.  V 

PAGK. 

O'CounelTs  strange  course — Trial  of  Charles 
Gavan  Duflfy — Peace  Resolutions — Secession 
from  the  Association.  -         -        -         .         .       iqq 

CHAPTER  IX. 

O'Brien's  account  of  the  secession— Attempts  at  a 
reconciliation — The  "Old  Trelanders  "  in  favor 
of  place-taking — The  Dublin  Remonstrants — 
Tliomas  D'Arcy  McGee — Position  of  the  Nation 
—Whig  treachery — O'Connell  in  Parliament — 
Progress  of  the  Famine. 197 

CHAPTER  X. 

Attempts  at  reunion — John  B.  Dillon — The  Irish 
Confederation — Its  organization  and  aims — The 
Galway  election — More  overtures  for  union — 
Charles  Gavan  Duffy— Rev.  C.  P.  Meehan.         -      218 

CHAPTER  XI. 

The  American-Irish  Banquet — Richard  O'Gorman, 
Jr. — A  truce  proposed — O'Brien  in  the  Confeder- 
ation— A  disgraceful  scene  in  Conciliation  Hall 
—Rev.  Mr.  McHugh— Death  of  O'Connell— Its 
effects  on  the  people — Fate  of  Conciliation  Hall 
— The  Nation  on  the  future — Election  in  Cork, 
a  Confederate  victory.         -        -        -        .        .      343 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  General  Election  of  1847— J.  O'Connell  with- 
draws from  Dublin — O'Brien  reelected  for 
Limerick — Meagher  in  Waterford — The  Repeal 
members — Grattan  on  the  Famine — The  Irish 
Council — The    Confederate    clubs— Division   in 


vi  CONTENTS. 


PA6B. 


the  Confederation — John  Mitchel — meeting  in 
Dublin— The  French  Revolution  of  1848— 
Its  effects  on  Ireland — Deputation  to  Paris — 
Arrests — Transportation  of  Mitchel — End  of  the 
old  I^ation. 260 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Attempts  at  insurrection  in  the  south — The  affair  of 
Ballingarry — Escape  of  Dillon,  Doheny,  O'Gor- 
man,  and  McGee — Arrest  of  O'Brien,  Meagher, 
O'Donohoe,  and  McManus— their  trial  and  con- 
viction— O'Brien's  intrepidity — Character  of 
O'Donohoe  and  McManus — Meagher's  speech — 
-  Last  of  the  Irish  Confederation.  .        -        .      286 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
The  literature  of  the  "Young  Ireland"  party — 
James  Clarence  Mangan — Denis  Florence 
McCarthy — Richard  D'Alton  Williams  Lady 
Wilde — The  Library  of  Ireland— Davis,  Duffy, 
Father  Meehan,  Doheny,  McNevin,  Mitchel, 
McGee,  McCarthy,  and  Mrs.  Callan — Their  legacy 
to  *' Young  Ireland"  of  to  day.  -        -        -      299 


Recent  advices  from  Europe  indicate  that  the 
strusfo'le  for  self-o-overnment  and  the  ri^ht  of  domestic 
legislation,  which  has  been  suspended  in  Ireland  since 
1848,  is  about  to  be  renewed  j  and,  it  is  to  be  hoped, 
under  more  favorable  auspices  than  those  which  usher- 
ed in  the  Repeal  movement  under  O'Connell,  or  the 
Irish  Confederation  of  Dufiy  and  O'Brien.  Men,  almost 
entirely  new  to  the  mass  of  the  people,  seem  to  be  tak- 
ing the  most  prominent  part  in  this  revived  agitation  j 
and  a  generation,  who  know  little  of  the  virtues  and 
faults,  the  victories  and  defeats,  which  characterized  the 
popular  leaders  of  1840-50,  are  their  followers. 

As,  in  conducting  this  new  crusade  against  English 
misgovernment,  those  champions  of  national  rights  will 
have  to  go  over  much  of  the  ground  trodden  by  their 
predecessors,  they  will,  if  they  hope  for  success,  be 
obliged  to  avoid  and  overcome  the  pitfalls  and  obsta- 
cles which  entrapped  or  retarded  the  men  of  '43  and 
'48  in  their  progress  towards  independence.  '^  Sweet 
are  the  uses  of  adversity ; "  and  from  the  misfortunes  of 
the  past  may  be  gleaned  many  valuable  lessons  for  the 
guidance  of  the  present  generation. 

It  was  partially  with  this  purpose  in  view  that  I 
have  written  this  volume  j  for,  though  it  may  not  find 
many  readers  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  it  will 
not  be  without  its  influence  here.     America  and  Ireland 


viii  PREFACE. 

are  now  so  intimately  connected  by  ties  of  blood,  mu- 
tual interest,  and  a  common  appreciation  of  the  advan- 
tages of  free  government,  that  nothing  which  concsrns 
the  one  can  be  ^vithout  interest  to  the  other.  In  these 
days  of  the  rapid  transmission  of  intelligence,  public 
opinion,  in  either  hemisphere,  is  constantly  acting  and 
reacting  upon  the  people  and  government  of  both. 

But  what  I  designed  principally  was  to  present  to  those 
of  my  countrymen  in  the  United  States,  who  personally 
remember  something  of  the  Repeal  Agitation  under  the 
great  O'Connell  and  the  Irish  Confederates,  a  brief  and, 
as  far  as  possible,  an  accurate  account  of  the  origin,  growth, 
and  culmination  of  the  differences  which,  in  the  year 
1846,  grew  up  in  the  Repeal  Association ;  as  well  as  to 
convey  some  true  ideas  of  the  character,  opinions,  aims, 
and  mental  status  of  the  sincere  and  gifted  m.en  who 
felt  called  upon  to  separate  from  the  bulk  of  the  Lib- 
erator's followers.  In  endeavoring  to  do  so,  I  can  safely 

say   that   I   have  not  been  actuated  bv  anv  want  of 

•  •        • 

admiration  for  the  genius  or  patriotism  of  that  illustrious 
Irishman  5  nor  infliieuced  by  any  personal  predilection  for 
those  who  differed  from  him  on  what  is  qow  o^enerallv  con- 
ceded,  the  high  grounds  of  political  faith  and  public  duty. 
As  to  the  prominent  members  of  the  Irish  Confedera- 
tion, I  am  btit  too  well  aware  that,  smarting  from  recent 
defeat,  and  perhaps  laboring  under  false  impressions, 
they  have  said  words  of  each  other  that  had  better  not 
have  been  uttered,  and  which  they  themselves  have 
regretted  more  deeply  than  any  person  :  I  have  there- 
fore striven  to  avoid,  as   raich  as  possible,  instituting 


PREFACE.  i:£ 

invidious  comparisons  between  men  who  were  equal  in 
honesty,  in  truthfulness,  in  devotion,  and  who  only 
diflered  in  mental  attributes  in  degree. 

If  I  Lave  spoken  harshly  or  slightingly  in  these 
pages  of  the  attempts  of  the  Confederates  to  produce  an 
armed  revolution  in  Ireland,  it  is  because  I  would  warn 
all  others  from  the  imitation  of  such  a  danorerous  ex- 
periment  in  a  country  where  the  use  of  arms  is  un- 
known to  the  vast  majority  of  the  population,  and 
where  the  only  military  knowledge  possessed  by  Irish- 
men is  unfortunately  used  in  the  enslavement  of  their 
country.  The  right  of  Ireland  to  secure  complete  in- 
dependence, even  by  the  utmost  exertion  of  force,  is,  in 
my  mind,  unquestionable ;  but  no  people,  no  matter  how 
badly  governed,  have  a  right  to  adopt  this  ultimate  alter- 
native without  the  moral  probability  of  success.  Nor, 
indeed,  is  any  man,  no  matter  how  distinguished  or  expe- 
rienced, justified  in  exciting  his  fellow-beings  to  aims, 
who  is  not  prepared  to  show  that  he  has  the  capacity  to 
lead  them,  and  reasonable  means  to  insure  their  success. 

For  many  of  the  facts  and  incidents  related  in  this 
volume,  I  have  been  indebted  to  the  cotemporary  files  of 
the  Nation  and  Dublin  Freeman,  to  MitcheFs  "  Last 
Conquest  of  Ireland — Perhaps ;  "  Doheny's  "  Felon's 
Track  ;  "  the  letters  and  personal  statements  of  many  of 
the  chief  actors  in  the  scenes  related  j  and  to  several 
volumes  of  the  N.  Y.  Truth-Teller^  kindly  furnished  me 
by  the  late  Mr.  William  McN.  Denman. 

J.  E.  M. 

New  York :— St.  Patrick's  Dav,  1874. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Introductory — Ireland's  second  greatest  grievance — 
The  Act  of  Union — Debasement  of  the  Irish  people — 
Daniel  O'Connell— Catholic  struggles  for  civil  rights — 
The  Emancipation  act  of  1829 — Agrarian  agitation — 
Symptoms  of  a  Repeal  movement. 

The  greatest  misfortune  that  has  ever 
befallen  the  people  of  Ireland,  always  ex- 
cepting the  loss  of  her  national  indepen- 
dence, was  the  deprivation  of  her  legislative 
power,  and  consequently  of  the  right  of  her 
people  to  make  their  own  laws,  subject  only 
to  the  supervision  of  the  monarch  of  the 
United  Kingdoms. 

The  first  calamity  was  brought  about  by 
slow  degrees,  as  well  as  by  an  almost  end- 
less series  of  desultory  battles,  wholesale 
confiscations,  and  unparalleled  atrocities. 
If  we  examine  the  records  of  Anglo-Norman 
conquest  in  Ireland,  from  the  invasion  in 
1169  down  to  the  '^  pacification  "  of  Mount- 
joy  in  the  time  of  Elizabeth,  we  will  find 
that  it  required  more   than  four   hundred 


10  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

years  of  continual  warfare,  undertaken  by 
a  po^yer  far  more  numerous  and  wealthy, 
and  assisted  by  mercenaries  from  the  Con- 
tinent, to  overwhelm,  for  the  time  at  least, 
that  perennial  spring  of  patriotism  and 
bravery  which  flows  so  purely  and  strongly 
from  the  Gaelic  heart. 

Other  countries,  notably  England  herself, 
have  been  conquered  in  a  couple  of  cam- 
paigns or  even  in  a  single  battle.  The 
Romans  found  little  difficulty  in  subduing 
the  primitive  barbarians  of  Albion;  Hen- 
gist  and  Horsa  literally  swept  the  Britons 
off  the  face  of  the  soil  and  drove  them  into 
the  recesses  of  the  Welsh  mountains,  from 
which  they  never  returned ;  and  the  descend- 
ants of  those  very  Saxons,  in  the  eleventh 
century,  were  in  turn  trampled  upon  and 
enslaved  by  William's  filibuster os^  without- 
let  or  hinderance,  after  his  first  battle,  Hast- 
ings. A  century  latter  saw  the  descendants 
of  those  very  conquerors  in  Ireland,  equally 
as  ready  for  spoliation  and  confiscation  ;  but 
tlieir  success  was  not  commensurate  with 
their    hopes     or     advantages.       William's 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  1 1 

^'Normans"  were  gathered  from  the  four 
winds  of  heaven,  and  from  all  classes  of 
society :  men  of  desperate  fortunes,  and 
with  consciences  not  over-scrupulous, 
tliough  brave  and  experienced  soldiers. 
Those  of  their  progeny  who  went  to  Ireland 
were  very  much  of  the  same  caste  and 
character;  for  as  yet  the  baser  Saxon  blood 
had  not  been  allowed  to  commingle  with 
the  sup230sed  purer  strain  of  their  mas- 
ters. They  had  this  advantage,  also,  over 
their  ancestors :  that,  as  the  military  art 
was  becoming  more  and  more  developed 
on  the  Continent,  the  interminable  wars  of 
the  earlier  Norman  kings,  in  defence  of 
their  territorial  rights  in  France,  gave  them 
ample  opportunities  of  becoming  skilled  and 
intrepid  warriors  :  an  advantage  totally  be- 
yond the  reach  of  an  insular  and  isolated 
people  like  the  Irish  of  that  period. 

In  building,  defending,  and  assailing 
fortifications,  they  had  no  superiors  in 
Europe ;  and,  though  their  strategy  was 
prhnitive  and  their  tactics  simple,  they 
were   vastly  in    advance    of  the   Irish   in 


1 2  THE  MEN  OF  '43. 

tlieir  mode  of  initiating  and  conducting 
a  campaign,  as  well  as  in  the  excellence 
of  their  armor  and  weapons  of  war — in 
everything,  in  fact,  that  leads  to  successful 
warfare,  except  coui'age  and  an  unyielding 
spirit  of  resi^ance. 

Yet  with  all  those  advantages  on  their 
side,  the  Anglo-Normans  made  little  prog- 
ress in  their  conquests  for  the  first  two 
or  three  centuries  after  their  ariival,  and 
it  may  be  safely  asserted  that  there  was 
no  time  between  the  reign  of  the  second 
and  that  of  the  eighth  Henry — a  period  of 
nearly  four  centuries — that  the  Irish  23rinces 
and  chiefs,  if  united,  might  not  easily  have 
driven  their  invaders  from  the  country  as 
the  Northmen  had  been  exiDclled  by  their 
forefathers,  when 

"  MalacLy  conquered  the  foeman,  and  Biian  uprooted 
tLe  Dane." 

But  sectional  jealousy  and  personal  spite 
were  always  in  the  ascendant  in  the 
councils  of  the  Irish  chiefs,  even  while  the 
star  of  their  country's  independence  was 
setting"  red  in  the  blood  of  her  chivalrous 


THE  MEX  OF  '48.  13 

sons.  Then  came  the  quasi  Irish  parHa- 
ments  of  the  Pale,  who  very  generously 
voted — what  did  not  belong  to  them  to  give 
— the  crown  of  Ireland  to  that  monster  of 
iniquity  Henry  VIII.  For  this  gracious 
act  of  munificence,  as  well  as  for  turnino- 
over  body  and  soul  from  the  ancient  faith 
to  the  new  reformation,  the  pliant  tools 
were  liberally  rewarded  by  their  august 
master  with  grants  of  abbey  and  chui'ch 
lands,  and  the  revenues  of  pillaged  hospi- 
tals, colleges,  and  nunneries.  It  is  unneces- 
sarv  to  sav  that  the  terais  of  the  bargfain 
were  mutually  satisfactory. 

Henceforward  the  so-called  Irish  parlia- 
ment was  always  to  be  found  the  most 
obedient,  humble  servant  of  the  English 
officials ;  and  nothing  was  so  sycophantic 
or  grovelling  that  it  would  not  do,  did  its 
masters  but  intimate  the  slightest  wish  to 
that  effect.  It  was  of  course  a  representa- 
tive body  only  in  name,  for  its  benches 
were  filled  with  placemen  and  pensioners ; 
neither  the  people,  nor  even  a  fi-action  of 
the  people,  ever  being  consulted  in  its  for- 


14  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

Illation  or  advised  of  its  doings.  But  it 
answered  the  purpose  of  its  founders  well 
enono'h,  and  became  in  course  of  time  one 
of  those  agreeable  delusions  of  the  English 
system  of  government,  by  which  the  masses 
are  led  to  believe  that  they  are  governed 
by  a  fixed  constitution  and  equitable  laws, 
made,  in  part  at  least,  by  their  veritable 
representatives. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  last  century, 
however,  a  change  was  becoming  apparent 
in  the  tone  and  temper  of  the  so-called 
national  assembly.  Every  device  and 
scheme  that  could  be  suggested  to  acute 
and  intolerant  minds  had  been  used  against 
the  Catholic  Irish  until  they  were  beggared, 
exiled,  or  driven  to  starvation ;  then  their 
persecutors  rested  for  a  while  in  their  head- 
long course,  as  it  were,  through  sheer  sa- 
tiety. But  there  was  still  another  code  of 
laws  which  pressed  heavily  on  the  whole 
people,  irrespective  of  creed  or  religion.  A 
portion  of  the  enactments  under  this  sytem 
restricted  the  exportation  of  the  produce  of 
the    soil    to    ports    other    than    those     of 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  15 

England  and  a  few  of  her  colonies,  while 
the  markets  of  the  world  were  virtually 
closed  to  lier  manufactures.  As  those  laws 
had  been  passed  by  the  English  parliament, 
of  course  the  Irish  travesty  upon  it  had  no 
power  to  repeal  or  modify  them.  Now,  as 
the  landlords,  directly  or  indirectly  con- 
cerned in  the  exports  of  agricultm-al  prod- 
ucts, were  invariably  Protestants  ;  and  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  linen,  cloth,  glass, 
etc.,  were  almost  exclusively  monopolized 
by  the  Ulster  Presbyterians,  it  followed 
that  there  was  great  dissatisfaction  among 
that  class  of  his  Majesty's  most  faithful 
subjects.  It  was  all  very  well  to  crush  and 
humiliate  the  Catholics,  then  three-fourtlis 
of  the  population ;  but  as  soon  as  the  lash 
was  applied  to  the  back  of  the  dominant 
minority  it  was  declared  rank  tyranny. 

When  the  war  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion had  drained  Ireland  of  her  usual  de- 
fenders and  jailers,  the  occasion  was  seized 
upon  by  this  class  to  organize  a  national, 
unpaid  militia,  called  the  "Volunteers,"  who 
instead  of  at  once  taking  possession  of  the 


16  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

government  and  declaring  thorough  inde- 
pendence of  all  foreign  domination,  which 
might  have  been  done  without  the  effusion 
of  a  drop  of  blood,  boasted  of  their  loyalty, 
of  their  readiness  to  fio-ht  ao\ainst  the  French 
and  Americans,  declared  the  right  of  Protes- 
tants to  bear  arms,  and  demanded — unre- 
stricted trade  with  foreign  countries.  This 
concession  was  quickly  granted,  as  would 
any  other  that  might  have  been  required, 
simply  because  England  had  no  power  to 
refuse  it.  But  there  were  some  men,  high- 
spirited,  eloquent,  and,  to  a  certain  extent, 
national  in  feeling,  like  Grattan,  Flood, 
Charlemont,  and  Daly,  who  had  ulterior 
motives,  and  who  felt  that  the  only  security 
for  the  country  {i.  e.,  the  Protestant  faction), 
was  the  complete  independence  of-  the 
parliament,  and  this  also  was  conceded,  after 
a  brief  show  of  opposition,  in  1782.  Then 
the  Volunteers,  flushed  with  victory,  re- 
solved to  take  a  further  step,  and  having 
secured  the  corporate  independence  of  the 
legislature,  determined  to  reform  and  purify 
it,  by  getting  rid  of  the  majority  of  its  mem- 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  1  7 

bers,  the  paid  creatures  of  tlie  government 
or  the  representatives  of  rotten  boroughs. 
They  accordingly  met  in  convention  in 
DubHn  in  1783,  and  having  reiterated  the 
sapient  opinion  that  Protestants  had  a  right 
to  carry  arms  ;  that  Protestants  with  a  certain 
property  qualification  ought  to  be  allowed 
to  vote  ;  and  by  inference  none  but  "  Prot- 
estants "  had  or  ought  to  have  either^  they 
applied  to  parliament,  through  their  repre- 
sentative, Harry  Flood,  a  leading  jDatriotic 
bigot,  for  a  reform  bill  embodying  theii* 
plans.  But  times  had  changed,  the  Ameri- 
can war  was  over,  and  England  had  with- 
drawn her  shattered  forces  from  the  New 
World  once  more  to  sustain  her  despotic 
power  in  the  Old ;  while  the  mass  of  the 
Irish,  the  Catholics,  who  had  so  long  en- 
couraged and  sustained  the  Volunteers,  in 
hopes  of  obtaining  some  measure  of  justice 
through  their  aid,  now,  finding  their  confi- 
dence cruelly  betrayed,  and  themselves  de- 
clared unfit  to  bear  a  weapon  for  self-defence 
or  to  have  the  slightest  share  in  making  the 
laws,  by  the  very  men  they  had  trusted  so 


18  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

far,  withdrew  their  assistance  and  the  moral 
support  of  their  overpowering  numbers. 
Mr.  Flood's  bill  was  not  only  rejected  by  an 
immense  majority,  but  he  was  not  per- 
mitted even  to  introduce  it  in  the  accus- 
tomed form.  From  that  time  the  Volunteers 
degenerated,  andi  in  a  few  years  disappeared 
from  the  sio'ht  of  men.  The  result  of  their 
labors,  freedom  of  trade  and  legislative  in- 
dependence, vanished  almost  as  quickly,  if 
not  so  quietly. 

England  having  thus  effectually  h'elped 
the  Volunteers  to  destroy  themselves,  set 
to  work  svstematicallv  to  annihilate  the 
body  which  they  had  rendered  independent, 
and  by  one  bold  stroke  to  abolish  forever 
tlie  assembly  that  had  of  late  become  so 
dangerous  to  her  interests,  commercially 
and  politically.  With  one  hand  she  petted 
and  caressed  the  Catholics,  and  with  the 
other  she  armed  tlie  Orano^emen  as^ainst 
them.  She  encouraged  secret  revolutionary 
societies  while  proclaiming  martial  laAV  in 
the  disturbed  districts,  and  finallv  over  the 
entire  countrv.     In   turns    she    threatened 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  19 

the  timid,  bribed  tlie  venal,  and  allured,  by 
false  j)i'omises  of  speedy  amelioration,  the 
oppressed  and  persecuted.  The  object 
throuo^hout  was  to  win  tlie  of-ood-will  of  the 
Catholics,  who  had  no  votes,  but  great  phys- 
ical power,  while  at  the  same  time  to  secure 
a  working  majority  of  those  who  sat  in 
parliament  and  of  those  Avhom  they  were 
supposed  to  represent.  This  line  of  policy 
was  only  partially  successful,  for  it  was 
found  necessary  to  resort  to  more  stringent 
measures  before  the  popular  voice  would 
declare,  or  the  slavish  parliament  vote  for  so 
execrable  a  measure  as  the  djestruction  of 
their  last  shred  of  nationalitv.  But  Pitt, 
and  his  lienchman,  Castlereagh,  were  equal 
to  the  occasion.  The  unruly  patient  who 
would  not  consent  to  suicide  must  be  treat- 
ed to  a  little  phlebotom}".  Then  commenced 
midnight  murders  bv  "  Oranoremen  :  "  and 
retaliation  by  "Defenders;"  quartering  of 
brutal  and  licentious  troops  in  the  households 
of  peaceful  and  virtuous  families,  lialf  hang- 
ing, pitcli-cap,  triangle,  and  other  like  tor- 
tures, and,  as  if  this  were  not  enough  to 


20  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

drive  the  most  patient  and  most  enduring 
jDeople  in  the  world  to  open  rebelHon,  churcli 
bm-ninors  and  wholesale  massacres  of  the 
defenceless  peasantry  by  the  armed  Orange 
yeomen  were  supplemented.  Then  followed, 
in  rapid  succession,  the  uprising  of  the 
gallant  men  of  Wexford,  the  abortive  at- 
tempts of  the  United  Irishmen  of  the  North, 
the  arrest  of  the  leaders  of  that  oro["anization 
in  Dublin ;  trials  by  courts-martial,  execu- 
tions without  number,  and  general  terror- 
isms and  stupefaction. 

This  was  the  opportune  moment  for  the 
conspirators  against  the  only  remaining 
rights  left  to  the  nation.  Bills  to  further 
cement  the  union  of  Ireland  and  England 
were  simultaneously  introduced  into  the  par- 
liaments of  both  countries,  and  in  July,  1800, 
were  passed  by  large  majorities.  To  effect 
this  unconstitutional  and  unexampled  out- 
rage on  the  liberties  of  the  people,  not  only 
intimidation  and  cajolery  were  freely  resorted 
to,  but  the  most  unblushing  corruption  and 
bribery  were  lavishly  used;  so  repulsive  was 
the  deed  even  to  those  who  most  favored  it 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  21 

secretly,  or  advocated  its  consummation 
with  apparent  candor. 

From  tlie  first  day  of  January,  1801, 
Ireland  ceased  to  have  even  the  semblance 
of  nationahty.  Her  laws  in  future  were  to  be 
made  in  London,  in  a  House  of  Commons 
seven-eighths  of  whose  members  had  never 
seen  Ireland  or  knew  anything  whatever 
of  her  resources,  trade,  commerce,  or  agri- 
culture; and  in  a  House  of  Lords  where 
the  ignorant  majority  was  even  more  anti- 
Irish  and  anti-Catholic.  Thus  the  country 
became,  and  so  remains  to  this  day,  as 
much  a  portion  of  Great  Britain,  and  as 
totally  devoid  of  au}^  political  individuality, 
as  Yorkshire  or  Kent,  except  when  it  sub- 
serves English  designs  to  think  otherwise  ; 
and  then  the  comparative  freedom  of  action 
and  religious  equality  which  is  permitted 
those  shires,  are  practically  and  unhesita- 
tingly denied  to  one  of  the  grandest  and 
most  illustrious  of  the  old  nations  of  Europe. 

The  condition  of  the  Irish  Catholics  after 
the  Union  was  humiliating  and  pitiful  in 
the  extreme.     Weakened  by  the  late  civil 


22  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

struggle,  betrayed  by  insidious  advice  into 
a  partial  support  of  the  bill  that  took  away 
the  trifling  rights  yet  remaining,  and  be- 
trayed by  those  whom  they  had  foolishly 
trusted,  thev  found  themselves  without  a 
leader  or  an  advocate,  scarcely  daring  to  lift 
up  their  eyes  to  the  Great  Power  above  them, 
and  ask  His  assistance  to  recover  the  oppor- 
tunity they  had  so  idly  cast  away.  ^*  In  the 
public  journals  of  the  period,"  says  a  late 
writer,  '^  they  exhibit  few  symptoms  of  polit- 
ical life.  They  had  lapsed  into  that  drowsy 
torpor  in  which  they  are  buried  at  present ; 
and,  as  at  present,  the  possibility  of  political 
action  was  precluded  by  the  absence  of  po- 
litical harmony.  It  was  not  consonant  with 
the  dignity  of  Catholics,  as  their  aristoci'acy 
asserted,  to  address  a  jDarliament  by  which 
their  petitions  had  been  previously  rejected. 
This  insidious  suofsfestion  had  the  desired 
effect — it  mummified  the  Catholic  body. 
The  same  sophistry,  under  another  form, 
has  been  employed  in  recent  times  to  pro- 
duce the  same  inaction.  O'Connell  dashed 
it   aside.      He    was    aware    of  the   horror 


THE  MEN  OF  '43.  2 


o 


with  which  tKe  titled  sensuaUsts  wlio  ruled 
the  empire  regarded  agitation.  To  them,  he 
knew  that  the  irritation,  the  fret,  which 
public  meetings  occasion  is  more  annoying 
than  violent  and  open  war.  Hence  it  was 
that  O'Connell  taught  one  uniform  doc- 
trine, Aofitate  !  ag-itate  !  ag-itate  !  " 

But  even  Daniel  O'Connell,  full  of  life, 
enthusiasm,  energy,  and  eloquence  as  he 
then  was,  could  not  arouse  the  Catholic 
masses  from  their  lethargy  or  instil  into 
their  degenerate  souls  one  tittle  of  his  own 
fire  and  manliness.  In  vain  he  organized 
Catholic  Committees  and  Catholic  Boards, 
in  vain  he  denounced,  with  a  wealth  of  lan- 
guage and  a  power  of  invective  beyond 
conception,  the  illegality  and  utter  injustice 
of  the  act  of  union  and  the  diabolical  atroc- 
ity of  the  penal  laws ;  equally  in  vain  did 
he  try  by  example  and  precept  to  unite  his 
oppressed  co-religionists  and  infuse  into  their 
hearts  some  of  his  own  hopefulness  and 
moral  courage.  The  terrors  of  '98  had 
entered  into  their  very  marrow,  while  the 
duplicity  of  those  who  sold  their  country 


24  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

for  a  mess  of  pottage  sickened  and  disgusted 
tliem.  A  man  with  less  pertinacity  and  de- 
termination than  O'Connell  would  have 
given  up  the  task  in  despau' ;  as  it  was,  he 
turned  his  attention  more  to  his  profession 
and  to  the  preparation  of  those  majestic 
forensic  displays  of  wit,  eloquence,  and 
pathos — half  legal,  half  political — whicli, 
while  they  seldom  failed  to  convince  the 
court  and  sway  the  jury,  always  served  to 
electrify  and  arouse  the  j)l^^dits  of  the 
audience.  While  he  was  waiting  for  a  new 
generation  he  Was  schooling  himself,  and 
training  the  people  for  the  great  impending 
struggle  for  religious  liberty  which  cul- 
minated in  1829. 

This  was  inaugurated  by  O'Connell  in 
the  early  part  of  1823,  by  the  formation  of  a 
Catholic  Association,  an  organization  which 
for  more  than  a  year  after  its  inception 
attracted  little  attention  and  wielded  no 
popular  power.  But  when  its  objects  and 
aims  became  gradually  developed,  the  people 
and  the  priesthood  flocked  around  its  stand- 
ards, till  so  dangerous  had  it  become,  in  its 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  25 

numerical  and  moral  strength,  to  English 
interests  in  Ireland,  that  an  act  was  passed 
by  the  imperial  parliament  for  its  suppres- 
sion. But  the  time  had  at  length  arrived 
when  the  new  generation  took  the  lead  in 
public  affairs  without  fear  or  hesitation. 
A  few  months  after  the  dissolution  of  the 
fii'st  association  another  one  was  formed, 
and  the  people's  demand  for  civil  and  relig- 
ious rights  was  more  thoroughly  discussed 
and  more  persistently  urged.  The  result 
was  that  George  IV,  acting  under  the  direc- 
tion of  Wellino'ton  and  the  other  members 
of  his  cabinet,  signed  the  act  of  Emancipa- 
tion on  the  13th  of  April,  1829,  and  thus, 
as  it  was  at  the  time  said,  placed  the 
Catholics  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  on 
an  equality  with  the  Protestant  sects. 

The  relief  afforded  the  Catholics  was  not, 
however,  either  complete  or  unaccompanied 
by  civil  disabilities,  some  of  which  were 
removed  by  the  Reform  act,  which  opened 
the  municipal  corporations  to  Catholics ; 
others  in  our  own  day  by  the  Church 
Disestablishment  bill,  which  abolished  the 


26  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

tithe  system ;  and  many  are  still  in  exist- 
ence. The  old  system  of  collecting  tithes,  it 
is  tiTie,  was  abandoned  years  ago  ;  but  being 
made  a  rent  charge  and  payable  by  the 
owners  of  the  land  was  no  advantage  to 
the  tenants,  as  it  was,  of  course,  added  to 
their  already  exorbitant  rents.  The  reform 
bill  of  1831  was  an  English  measure,  passed 
for  the  benefit  of  that  people,  and  had  very 
little  influence  for  good  or  evil  on  Ireland. 
The  disfranchisement  of  the  forty  shilling 
freeholders  which  had  been  made  a  con- 
dition of  the  passage  of  the  Emancipation 
Act,  was,  under  the  circumstances  then  sur- 
rounding the  peasant  population,  at  best  a 
negative  evil. 

The  position  of  the  Catholics  was  however 
substantially  improved.  O'Connell,  in  re- 
ward for  his  great  services,  was  presented 
with  the  handsome  sum  of  fifty  thousand 
pounds  sterling  by  his  admiring  co-religion- 
ists, and  his  presence  everywhere  through- 
out the  country  was  hailed  with  the  most 
enthusiastic  demonstrations  and  tokens  of 
gratitude  by  all  classes. 


THE  MEx\  OF  '48.  27 

But  his  late  successes  were  but  partial, 
lie  had  obtained  a  great  boon,  it  is  true,  for 
a  portion  of  his  country,  and  had  destroyed 
a  monster  which  had  so  long  preyed  on  its 
vitals.  Still  he  had  only  captured  the  out- 
works of  the  enemies'  defences ;  the  citadel 
remained  in  their  possession.  His  former 
labors  had  been  for  the  benefit  of  a  class, 
he  now  intended  to  make  them  national. 
In  other  words,  he  proposed  to  unite  all 
parties  and  creeds  under  one  banner,  with 
the  common  war-cry :  Repeal  of  the  Union. 
Too  shrewd  a  man  not  to  see  that  the 
cancer  which  was  eating  into  the  heart  of 
Ireland  could  not  be  effectually  cured  by 
half  measures  introduced  and  mainly  carried 
out  by  an  alien  parliament,  and  too  proud  a 
patriot  to  be  content  to  see  his  native  land 
in  a  state  of  worse  than  colonial  dependence, 
he  must  have  felt  that,  except  the  violent 
disruption  of  the  Empire,  there  was  no 
complete  remedy  for  Irish  grievances  short 
of  the  restoration  of  her  right  of  self- 
government.  This  was  ever  the  burden 
of  his  speeches  and  addresses  during  the 


28  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

decade  subsequent  to  emancipation,  as  well 
as  through  the  whole  course  of  his  after  life, 
while  he  had  strength  to  raise  his  voice  or 
wield  his  pen  in  behalf  of  his  suffering 
countrymen. 

From  1830  till  1840,  there  were  spas- 
modic efforts  made,  from  time  to  time,  to 
enlist  the  sympathies  of  the  entire  people  in 
favor  of  a  repeal  agitation,  but  with  little  or 
no  effect.  Some  were  satisfied  with  what 
they  had  obtained  by  the  law  of  '29  ;  others 
were  more  interested  in  local  and  agrarian 
matters;  and  still  others,  whose  ambition 
rose  no  higher  than  keeping  on  terms  with 
the  English  party  in  power  for  the  sake  of 
obtaining  offices  for  themselves  or  friends, 
who  attempted  to  use  for  selfish  and  de- 
grading purposes  the  very  provisions  of  the 
Emancipation  Act,  which  allowed  Catholics 
to  hold  office,  not  as  an  inducement  for  de- 
'serting  the  national  cause,  but  as  an  abso- 
lute right  and  a  token  of  religious  equality. 


CHAPTER  11. 

The  Repeal  Association — Establishment  of  the  "Nation' 
— Thomas  Davis — Plis  Ijirth  and  education — Views  on 
national  subjects — Prose  and  poetry — Influence  on  Irish 
literature — Death — Opinions  of  his  contemporaries. 

In  1840,  tlie  excitement  tliat  had  at- 
tended tlie  Reform,  Titlie,  and  Mnnicipal 
Reform  bills  had  subsided.  O'Connell  and 
his  colaborers,  having  had  nearly  ten  years' 
experience  in  the  imperial  parliament,  Avith 
ample  opportunity  to  study  the  inclinations 
and  views  of  the  overwhelming  majority  of 
that  body,  found  the  sad  conclusion  forced 
on  their  minds  that  no  hope  for  Ireland — 
no  fair,  imj)artial  laws  for  her  people — no 
adequate  redress  for  her  many  grievances — 
could  be  expected  from  an  assembly  in 
which  the  w^ants  of  the  country  were  neither 
recognized  nor  appreciated.  Ignorance  of 
Irish  character  and  distress,  and  even  of  the 
very  text  and  existence  of  the  statutes  of 
which  most  complaint  had  been  made,  w^as 
supplemented,  in  the  case  of  the  English, 


30  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

Welsh,  and  Scotch  members,  by  the  most 
offensive  display  of  superiority  and  conde- 
scension, which  had  at  its  root  a  bitter,  hos- 
tile antipathy  to  the  very  name  of  Ireland. 
•  O'Connell,  therefore,  disgusted  but  not 
disheartened,  left  his  place  in  St.  Stephen's 
and  returned  to  Dublin,  with  a  firm  resolve 
to  found  an  association  for  the  purpose  of 
restoring  to  the  country  her  parliament ;  to 
arouse  the  dormant  spirit  of  the  nation  to  a 
sense  of  its  degradation  and  of  its  strength; 
and  to  devote  the  few  remaining  years  of 
his  life — he  was  then  sixty-four — to  the  con- 
summation of  his  country's  regeneration. 

On  the  15th  of  April,  1840,  the  first 
meeting  of  the  new  organization  took  place. 
It  was  held  in  the  Corn  Exchange  building ; 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  persons  were 
present,  the  great  Emancipator  being  the 
principal  speaker  on  the  occasion.  In  his 
opening  address  he  said : 

'^  My  Fello  w-Countrymen — I  rise  witli  the  deep  sense  of 
the  awful  importance  of  the  step  I  am  about  to  propose  to 
the  Irish  people,  and  a  fall  knowledge  of  the  difficulties 
by  which  we  are  surrounded  and  the  obstacles  we  have 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  31 

to  contend  with.  I  trust  that  my  heart  is  pure,  and  my 
judgment,  on  the  present  occasion,  unclouded ;  and  I 
declare  in  the  presence  of  God,  who  is  to  judge  me  for 
an  eternity  of  weal  or  woe,  that  I  have  no  object  in 
view  but  the  good  of  m}''  native  land,  and  that  I  feel, 
in  the  deepest  sense,  the  responsibility  I  am  about  to 
incur.  We  are  about  to  enter  on  a  straggle  that  will 
teiTuinate  only  in  having  the  most  ample  justice  done  to 
Ireland  by  placing  her  upon  an  equality  with  the  sister- 
country,  or  in  the  establishment  of  our  legislative  in- 
dependence. We  commence  under  auspices  that  afford 
little  prospect  of  ultimate  success  to  some ;  but  those 
who  know  the  character  of  the  brave,  moral,  religious, 
and  patient  Irish  people,  cannot  be  of  that  opinion. 
We  shall,  no  doubt,  be  laughed  at  and  derided  on  all 
sides,  sneered  at  by  friends  who  believe  everything 
impracticable,  and  opposed  by  those  malignant  enemies 
who  will  be  delighted  to  find  an  opportunity  for  mani- 
festing their  hostility.  But  no  matter.  We  w^ere  de- 
rided and  laughed  at  before  by  persons  of  this  descrip- 
tion when  we  set  about  the  accomplishment  of  that 
great  moral  revolution  which  has  won  religious  freedom 
for  all." 

These  were  brave  words,  bravely  uttered, 
in  defiance  of  the  vast,  intolerant,  and  un- 
principled Opposition  whose  hostility  and 
ridicule  he  had  anticipated  and  defied.  But 
they  settled  deep  in  the  minds  of  those  to 
whom  they  were  addressed,   and  in  time 


32  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

produced  abundant  fruits.  Though  during 
that  and  the  two  succeeding  years  the 
growth  of  the  association  was  slow  and  not 
always  regular,  the  opinions  of  the  leaders 
in  the  movement  were  permeating  the  minds 
of  the  masses  in  every  section  of  the  country. 
O'Connell  himself,  by  public  letters,  ad- 
dresses, and  private  influence,  was  inces- 
santly developing  his  plans  and  enforcing 
his  arguments  in  favor  of  the  absolute  ne- 
cessity of  domestic  legislation  for  Ireland. 
His  speeches  in  Mullingar,  Cork,  Limerick, 
Belfast,  and  Carlow,  during  this  period,  were 
full  of  his  ancient  fire,  vehemence,  logic,  and 
pathos,  solidified  and  chastened  by  the  ex- 
perience of  a  long  and  laborious  life.  His 
election  as  Lord  Mayor  of  Dublin  in  the 
latter  part  of  1841,  not  only  drew  to  him 
the  attention  of  the  empire,  but  added  a 
gravity  and  significance  to  his  casual  utter- 
ances fai*  beyond  what  was  attached  to 
those  of  any  other  man  of  his  nationality. 
He  was  now  indeed  the  true  leader  of  the 
Lish  people,  and  around  him  crowded 
prelates,  priests,  and  people — the  old  men 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  33 

wlio  recollected  the  vanished  gloiies  of  the 
days  of  Grattan  and  the  volunteers,  as  well 
as  the  young  spirits,  fresh  from  their  classic 
studies  of  Greek  and  Roman  liberty,  who 
knew  nothing  of  the  atrocities  of  '98  nor 
of  the  debasement  of  their  fathers  under  the 
infamous  persecutions  that  preceded  and 
followed  that  sad  catastrophe. 

Among  the  latter  were  three  men,  com- 
paratively young,  who  were  destined  to  be 
among  his  most  efficient  supporters,  so  long 
as  a  sense  of  justice  and  a  due  regard  for 
their  country's  welfare  would  allow  them 
to  be  so.  These  were  Thomas  Davis, 
Charles  Gavan  Duffy,  and  John  B.  Dillon, 
the  nucleus  of  what  was  afterwards  called 
the  "  Young  Ireland"  party ;  and  truly  did 
they  represent  the  young  blood  and  young 
mind  of  Ireland,  or  rather  the  old  spirit  and 
ancient  genius  of  their  warrior  ancestors 
rejuvenated  and  revivified.  The  first,  Davis, 
was  a  Protestant,  the  other  two.  Catholics. 
Duffy  had  large  experience  as  a  journalist, 
Dillon  was  a  lawyer,  and  Davis  a  man  of 
letters.  Each  represented  a  province,  north, 


34  THE  MEN  OF  '43. 

west,  and  south,  when  they  met  in  the  capi- 
tal of  Leinster  to  establish  a  journal — 
The  Nation — which,  while  designed  to  be 
devoted  primarily  to  the  advocacy  of  a 
repeal  of  the  act  of  Union,  was  intended 
to  create  a  national  literature,  a  taste  for 
Irish  art  and  archaeology,  a  love  for  Ii'ish 
music  and  song,  and  to  make  them  ''racy 
of  the  soil." 

The  Nation  was  fii'st  issued  in  the  au- 
tumn of  1842.  Before  many  weeks  had 
elapsed  it  had  taken  a  position  not  only  at 
the  head  of  Irish  journalism,  but  second 
to  none  of  its  class  then  published  in  any 
country  or  language.  So  solid,  terse,  and 
pointed  were  its  editorials,  so  brilliant  and 
captivating  its  literary  essays  and  poetry, 
that  in  its  very  infancy  it  excited  general 
astonishment  and  comment,  and,  with  the 
magnetism  of  true  genius,  drew  around  it, 
j)roud  to  swell  the  tide  of  its  fame,  a  host  of 
volunteer  contributors,  some  of  whose  names 
now  are  counted  among  those  of  the  best 
writers  of  our  century. 

Of  the   tlu'ee  originators   of  this   great 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  35 

journal,  Thomas  Davis  was  undoubtedly  tlie 
most  versatile,  and,  as  a  litterateur^  tlie  most 
gifted.  Born  in  Mallow,  in  the  county  of 
Cork,  A.  D.  1 814,  he  early  imbibed  the  poetic 
afflatus  which  seems  to  delight  in  lingering 
round  the  mountains  and  babbling-  in  the 
brooks  of  Munster.  Not  belonoino-  to  the 
proscribed  faith,  he  had  every  advantage 
of  a  good  education,  and  Avliile  still  a  youth 
entered  the  Dublin  University.  His  life  in 
Trinity  was  marked  neither  by  incident  nor 
any  great  signs  of  precocious  ability.  He 
passed  through  the  regular  course  of  study  in 
the  usual  manner,  without  particular  notice 
or  remark,  and  went  into  the  wide  world 
with  no  apparent  aim  or  definite  coui'se  in 
life.  He  had,  in  fact,  one  of  those  pecu- 
liarly constituted  minds,  usually  of  slow  de- 
velopment, which,  unconscious  of  its  own 
grasp  and  power,  fails  at  fu'st  to  see  the 
straight  path  before  it.  His  studies  in  col- 
lege were  systematically  and  conscientiously 
attended  to,  but  he  had  no  taste  for  the  forms 
and  fetters  of  pedantic  scholasticism.  He 
loved  nature  in  all  her  bloom  and  freshness, 


36  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

and  his  happiest  hours  were  devoted  to  the 
contemplation  of  her  beauties  or  to  com- 
muning with  poets  and  naturahsts  who 
had  exhausted  their  powers  of  description 
in  her  praise.  Thus  dreaming  and  aindess 
he  passed  the  first  years  of  his  manhood. 
"  During  his  college-course,"  says  an  inti- 
mate friend  and  fellow-student,  ''  and  for 
some  years  after,  while  he  was  very  gen- 
erally liked,  he  had,  unless  perhaps  wath 
some  few  who  knew  him  intimately,  but  a 
moderate  reputation  for  high  ability  of  any 
kind." 

At  length  Davis,  in  his  twenty-eighth 
year,  found  his  true  vocation.  Then  his 
soul  burst  out  in  a  gush  of  melody,  and  in 
strong,  tlnilling  prose  that  captivated  all 
hearts  and  carried  conviction  with  them, 
such  as  mere  oratory  or  ordinary  verse 
could  never  have  accomplished.  Week 
after  week  the  columns  of  the  Nation  were 
filled  with  his  contributions  on  every  con- 
ceivable subject  afi*ecting  Ireland:  her 
history,  resources,  literature,  antiquities, 
and  art;  and  with  a  plenitude  of  ideas  and 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  37 

language,  combined  with  such  perfect  mas- 
tery of  his  theme,  that  he  astonished  not 
only  his  associates  but  himself  The  rock 
had  been  struck  at  last,  and  a  pure,  limpid 
stream  of  erudition  and  patriotism  came 
forth  to  quench  the  ardent  thirst  for  knowl- 
edge of  his  captive  people.  While  he  lived 
he  was  the  life  and  soul  of  the  Younof 
Irelanders,  their  prophet  and  then-  guide, 
and  though  seldom  found  on  the  rostrum, 
he  was  admitted  by  all  to  be  one  of  the 
principal,  if  not  the  very  ablest,  of  the  sup- 
porters of  O'Connell. 

It  is,  however,  as  a  poet,  as  the  one  who 
had  discovered  the  secret  springs  of  the*Irish 
character  and  knew  well  how  to  touch  each 
in  turn,  that  his  memory  is  embalmed  in 
the  popular  heart.  Of  all  the  brilliant 
spirits  that  added  grace  and  harmony  to  the 
Eepeal  epoch,  there  is  none  so  fondly  re- 
membered as  he ;  for  his  ballads  and  songs 
have  not  only  a  local  interest  and  a  definite 
object  attached  to  them,  but  they  are  so 
warm,  so  true  to  nature,  and  so  consonant 
with  Irish  feeling  that,  heard  but  once  or 


38  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

twice,  they  are  sure  never  to  be  forgotten. 
When  we  reflect  that  only  such  moments  as 
he  could  snatch  from  more  serious  occupa- 
tions were  devoted  to  the  muses ;  that  his 
selected  poems  as  published  fill  a  good  sized 
volume ;  that,  though  many  of  them  bear 
evidence  of  haste,  they  are  every  one  full  of 
deep  and  original  thought,  in  most  instances 
melodiously  expressed ;  we  are  inclined  to 
wonder  at  his  previous  silence  as  well  as  to 
speculate  on  W'hat  he  might  have  produced 
had  his  life  been  prolonged  for  a  few  more 
years. 

But  our  sm-prise  is  still  further  increased 
when  we  read,  in  the  Introduction  to  his 
poems  written  by  his  friend  Mr.  Wallis,  the 
following  statement.  ''  Until  about  three 
years  before  his  death,"  this  editor  says, 
**  I  am  assured  he  had  never  written  a  line 
of  poetry.  His  efforts  to  acquire  knowl- 
edge, to  make  himself  useful,  to  find  a  suit- 
able sphere  of  action,  were  incessant ;  but 
they  tried  every  path,  and  took  every  di- 
rection but  this.  The  warmth  of  his  affec- 
tions, and  his  intense  enjoyment  of  the  beau- 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  39 

ties  of  nature  and  character,  literature  and 
art,  ouglit  early  to  have  marked  him  out  as 
one  destined  to  soar  and  sing,  as  well  as 
to  think  and  act.  But  the  fact  is,  that  among 
his  youthful  contemporaries,  for  many  a  long 
year,  he  got  as  little  credit  for  any  promise 
this  way  as  he  did  for  any  other  remarkable 
qualities,  beyond  extreme  good-nature,  untir- 
ing industry,  and  very  varied  learning."  To 
this  Mr.  John  Mitchel  adds  his  testimony. 
"  He  was  no  boy-rhymer,"  he  says,  in  his 
preface  to  the  same  collection,  ''  and  brim- 
ful as  his  eye  and  soul  were  of  the  beauties 
and  glories  of  nature,  he  never  felt  a  neces- 
sity to  utter  them  in  song." 

That  Davis,  while  doubtful  of  his  own 
ability  to  supply  the  deficiency,  was  yet 
fully  alive  to  the  importance  of  song  as  a 
lever  to  raise  a  down-trodden  race  to  man- 
liness and  independence,  we  are  well  assured 
by  his  own  words.  In  his  essay  on  the 
''  Ballad  Poetry  of  Ireland"  he  wrote:  ''  That 
a  country  is  without  national  poetry  proves 
its  hopeless  dulness  or  its  utter  provincialism. 
National  poetry  is  the  very  flowering  of  the 


40  THE  MEX  OF  '48. 

soul — the  greatest  evidence  of  its  health, 
the  greatest  excellence  of  its  beauty.  Its 
melody  is  balsam  to  the  senses.  It  is  the 
playfellow  of  childhood,  ripens  into  the  com- 
panion of  his  manhood,  consoles  his  age. 
It  presents  the  most  dramatic  events,  the 
largest  characters,  the  most  impressive 
scenes,  and  the  deepest  passions  in  the 
language  most  familiar  to  us.  It  shows  us 
magnified,  and  ennobles  our  hearts,  our  in- 
tellects, our  countr}^,  and  our  countrymen 
— binds  us  to  the  past  by  its  condensed  and 
gem-like  history,  to  the  future  by  examples 
and  by  aspirations.  It  solaces  us  in  travel, 
fires  us  in  action,  prompts  om-  invention, 
sheds  a  grace  beyond  the  power  of  luxury 
around  our  homes,  is  the  recognized  envoy 
of  our  minds  among  all  mankind  and  to 
all  time  " 

Inspired  by  such  profound  appreciation 
of  the  value  of  poetry,  ballad,  and  song,  in 
the  education  and  elevation  of  the  people, 
Davis  wrote  continually  and  always  to 
the  point,  with  steadily  increasing  excel- 
lence ;  and,  if  we  have  to-day  in  the  English 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  41 

lanofuaofe  melodies  and  ballads  that  no 
tliorouo'li  Irishman  need  blush  to  sing*  or 
feel  humiliated  in  hearing  repeated,  we 
owe  it,  in  great  part,  to  his  pure  genius  and 
burning  patriotism. 

But  alas !  in  the  very  hour  of  his  great- 
est usefulness,  while  an  entranced  country 
hung  lovingly  on  his  notes,  when  on  the 
very  threshold  of  his  fame,  he  was  snatched 
away  from  his  race  and  nation,  to  the  deep 
regret  of  all,  even  of  those  who  either  would 
not  or  could  not  agree  with  his  political  or 
personal  view^s.  He  died  after  a  short  sick- 
ness on  the  16th  of  September,  1845,  in 
Dublin,  and  was  buried  amid  tears  and 
lamentations  in  Mount  Jerome  chm*ch-yard 
outside  of  that  city. 

To  those  who  know  his  worth,  abilities, 
and  character  only  through  his  writings, 
he  stands  forth  as  a  noble,  sagacious,  and 
accomplished  journalist ;  a  pure-souled  and 
unselfish  patriot;  a  true  poet,  full  of  sub- 
lime aspirations  and  beautiful  conceptions, 
wanting  only  the  hand  of  time  to  mellow 
and  retouch    the    defects  of  an  untrained 


42  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

and  exuberant  fancy.  But  it  is  not  always 
well  to  judge  a  man  by  his  words  or  writ- 
ings. Let  us  see,  then,  what  some  of  his 
contemporaries  and  most  intimate  acquaint- 
ances— men  who  knew  every  pulsation  of 
his  heart  and  marked  his  every  action — said 
of  him.  And  first  we  take  the  opinion  of 
the  great  Agitator.  He  was  at  Derrynane 
when  the  sad  news  reached  him  of  the 
death  of  the  young  poet.  He  immediately 
wrote  to  the  Repeal  Association  a  letter, 
in  which  the  following  feeling  allusions 
were  made  to  the  recent  calamity. 

"  I  do  not  know  what  to  write.  My  mind  is  be- 
wildered and  my  heart  afflicted.  The  loss  of  my  be- 
loved friend — my  noble-minded  friend — is  a  source  of 
the  deepest  sorrow  to  my  mind.  What  a  blow — what 
a  cruel  blow — to  the  cause  of  Irish  nationality !  He 
was  a  creature  of  transcendent  qualities  of  mind  and 
heart.  His  learning  was  universal — his  knowledge 
was  as  minute  as  it  was  general.  And  then  he  waS'  a 
being  of  such  incessant  energy  and  continuous  exei'tion. 
I,  of  course,  in  the  few  years — if  years  they  be — still 
left  to  me,  cannot  expect  to  look  upon  his  like  again  or 
to  see  the  place  he  has  left  vacant  adequately  filled  up. 
And  I  solemnly  declare   that  I   never  knew  any  man 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  4 


Q 


who  could  be  so  useful  to  Ireland  in  the  present  stage 
of  her  struggles.  His  loss  is  indeed  irreparable.  What 
an  example  he  was  to  the  Protestant  youths  of  Ireland  ! 
What  a  noble  emulation  of  his  vu'tues  ought  to  be  ex- 
cited in  the  Catholic  young  men  of  Ireland  !  And  his 
heart,  too  ! — it  was  as  gentle,  as  kind,  as  loving  as  a 
woman's.  Yes !  it  was  as  tenderly  kind  as  Lis  judg- 
ment was  comprehensive  and  his  genius  magnificent. 
We  shall  long  deplore  his  loss.  As  I  stand  alone  in 
the  solitude  of  my  mountains,  many  a  tear  shall  I  shed 
to  the  memory  of  the  noble  youth.  Oh  !  how  vain  are 
words  or  tears  when  such  a  national  calamity  afflicts  the 
country.  Put  me  down  among  the  foremost  contributors 
to  whatever  monument  or  tribute  to  his  memory  shall 
be  voted  by  the  National  Association.  Never  did  they 
perform  a  more  imperative  or — alas ! — so  sad  a  duty. 
I  can  write  no  more — my  tears  blind  me  ;  and  after  all, 
'Fungar  inane  munere.'" 

Charles  Gavan  Duffy,  in  writing  shortly 

after  the  death  of  his  lost  co-laborer,  said  of 

him:  "We  are  still  too  near  to  estimate  his 

proportions  truly.      The  friends  to  whom 

his  singularly  noble  and  lovable  character 

was  familiar,  and  who  knew  all  the  great 

desiras  he  was  brino^ino*  to  maturity,  are  in 

no  fit  condition  to  measure  his  intellectual 

force  with  a  calm  judgment.     The  people 

who  knew  liim  imperfectly,  or  not  at  all — 


44  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

for  it  was  one  of  the  practical  lessons  lie 
taught  the  young  men  of  his  generation,  to 
be  chary  of  notoriety — have  still  to  gather 
from  his  works  whatever  faint  image  of  a 
truly  great  man  can  ever  be  collected  from 
books.  Till  they  have  done  this,  they  will 
not  be  prepared  to  hear  the  whole  truth  of 
him.  All  he  was,  and  might  have  become, 
they  can  never  fully  know ;  as  it  is,  their 
unconsciousness  of  what  they  have  lost, 
impresses  those  who  knew  him  with  that  pity- 
ing pain  we  feel  for  the  indifference  of  a 
child  to  the  death  of  his  father.  Students 
who  will  be  eager  to  estimate  him  for  them- 
selves, must  take  in  connection  with  his  works 
the  fact,  that  over  the  grave  of  this  man, 
living  only  to  manhood,  and  occupying 
only  a  private  station,  there  gathered  a 
union  of  parties  and  a  combination  of 
intellect  that  would  have  met  round  the  tomb 
of  no  other  man  who  has  lived  in  our  time. 
No  life — not  that  of  Guttenberg,  or  Franklin, 
or  Tone — illustrates  more  stiikingly  than 
his,  how  often  it  is  necessary  to  turn  aside 
from  the  dais  on  which  stand  the  great  and 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  45 

titled,  for  the  great  moving  power  of  tlie 
time — the  men  who  are  stirring  hke  a 
soul  in  the  bosom  of  society.  Such  a  one 
they  will  quickly  discover  Davis  to  have 
been." 

The  late  General  Thomas  Francis 
Meagher,  one  of  Davis's  earliest  pupils,  and 
always  his  warm  admirer,  spoke  of  him  in 
his  wonted  glowing  and  impassioned  terms 
of  admiration.  Alluding  to  the  attempts 
to  heal  differences  which  had  sprung  up 
between  the  members  of  the  Association 
shortly  previous  to  the  poet's  decease,  he  thus 
said:  ''Amid  the  discordant  elements,  the 
heart  and  voice  and  pen  of  Thomas  Davis 
were  tasked  to  the  uttermost  to  restore 
union,  cordiality,  and  brotherly  love.  Never 
did  genius  or  truth  assert  a  brighter  future 
than  when  she  flashed  from  his  pen  in  the 
din  of  these  unnatural  passions.  .  .  The 
death  of  Thomas  Davis  was  an  unspeakable 
calamity.  Never  did  heavier  one  fall  on  a 
doomed  nation."  John  Mitch  el,  his  succes- 
sor on  the  Nation  J  also  adds  his  tribute  to 
the  worth  and  genius  of  his  predecessor: 


4G  THE  MEN  OF  '43. 

*'  By  liis  ardent  temperament,"  he  writes, 
'^amiable  character,  and  high  accompKsh- 
ments,  he  soon  gatliered  around  him  a  gifted 
circle  of  educated  young  men,  Protestant 
and  CathoHc,  whose  head-quarters  was  the 
Nation  office,  and  whose  chief  bond  of  union 
was  their  warm  attachment  to  their  friend. 
It  was  the  one  grand  object  of  these  men — 
and  it  was  grand — to  lift  up  the  Irish  cause 
high  above  Catholic  claims  and  Protestant 
pretensions,  to  unite  all  sects  in  the  one 
character  of  '  Irishmen,'  to  put  an  end  to 
English  domination.  Their  idea  was  pre- 
cisely the  idea  of  the  United  Irishmen ; 
although  their  mode  of  action  was  very 
different." 

In  reading  over  these  eloquent  eulogies 
we  can  form  some  idea  of  the  loss  which 
the  country  sustained  in  the  death  of  Davis 
at  the  critical  moment  when  the  action  of 
the  Repeal  Association  was  paralyzed  by 
internal  dissensions,  and  the  shadow  of  the 
impending  famine  was  already  casting  its 
gloom  over  the  face  of  the  land.  But,  as  it 
has  been  well  said,  they  never  fail  who  die 


THE  MEN  OF  '48  47 

in  a  good  cause.  We  liave  still  with  us 
those  brilliant  coruscations  of  his  genius 
which  will  shine  like  meteors  on  the  onward 
path  of  future  laborers  in  the  field  in  which 
he  wrought  so  well,  and  for  which  he,  in  his 
short  life,  accomplished  so  much  good. 


CHAPTER  III. 

The  Repeal  year — Monster  meetings — The  Kation — 
Opening  of  Conciliation  Hall — William  Smith  O'Brien — 
His  birth  and  descent — Career  in  parliament-  Joins  the 
Repeal  Association. 

After  nearly  three  years  spent  in  prep- 
aration, O'Connell  felt  that  the  time  had 
come  to  arouse  the  entire  country,  and  to 
force  on  the  people  of  England  and  Scotland 
and,  indeed,  on  all  Clnistendom,  the  convic- 
tion that  at  least  four-fifths  of  the  Irish  were 
thoroughly  unanimous  in  then'  demands  for 
the  restoration  of  their  jDarliament;  and 
were  resolved  that  their  voice  should  be 
heard  on  this  all-impprtant  subject  by 
friends  and  foes  alike.  The  mode  of  pro- 
ceeding which  he  proposed  to  himself  was 
the  holding  of  vast,  open-air  meetings  in 
different  portions  of  the  provinces,  to  the 
end  that  the  entire  population  of  the  coun- 
try might  have  a  full  opportunity  of  hear- 
ing the  repeal  question  fully  discussed  in  all 
its  bearings ;    and,  by  their  multitudinous 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  49 

presence  of  indorsing  tlie  actions  of  their 
representatives  in  the  imperial  legislature. 
The  voice  of  a  united  and  (being  united), 
powerful  nation,  demanding  rights  at  once 
just  and  expedient  to  be  granted,  could 
not,  he  argued,  be  raised  in  vain. 

Accordingly,  early  in  1843,  from  his 
home  in  Derrynane,  he  addressed  a  letter 
to  the  Association  requiring  that  three  mil- 
lion repealers  should  be  enrolled,  which 
being  done,  he  promised  that  the  Irish 
parliament  would  be  restored.  But  he 
was  not  content  to  leave  this  work  alto- 
gether to  the  committee,  and  the  repeal 
wardens.  He  resolved  to  forego  his  atten- 
dance on  the  coming  session  of  parliament, 
and  to  devote  his  entu^e.  time  and  energy 
to  arousing  the  people. 

He  therefore  left  his  home,  in  January, 
for  Dublin,  where  he  intended  to  strike  the 
first  blow,  in  the  capital  and  in  the  presence 
of  the  highest  representative  body  of  the 
country.  He  had  already  put  on  the  books 
of  the  corporation  a  notice  of  motion  declar- 
ing the  necessity  of  a  repeal  of  the  Union 


50  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

f!ct.  Tlio  debate  on  tliis  motion  took  place 
in  the  Assembly  Rooms,  on  the  28th  of 
February  and  occupied  three  days,  amid 
intense  excitement.  O'Connell  opened  the 
proceedings  by  presenting  the  following 
propositions,  and  supported  them  in  a  speech 
of  remarkable  power,  calmness,  and  famil- 
iarity with  the  subject.  They  were  :  ^'  1st, 
The  capability  and  capacity  of  the  Irish 
nation  for  an  independent  legislature.  2d, 
The  perfect  right  of  Ireland  to  have  a  do- 
mestic parliament.  3d,  This  right  w^as 
fully  established  by  the  transactions  of  1782. 
4th,  That  the  most  beneficial  effects  ac- 
crued to  Ireland  from  her  parliamentary 
independence.  5th,  That  the  Irish  parlia- 
ment was  utterly  incompetent  to  annihilate 
the  Irish  Constitution  by  uniting  with 
England.  6th,  That  as  the  Union  was  car- 
ried by  fraud,  force,  terror,  and  the  gross- 
est corruption,  it  is  not  a  bargain  or  con- 
tract. 7th,  That  the  most  disastrous  con- 
sequences resulted  to  Ireland  from  the 
Union.  8th,  That  the  Union  can  be  abol- 
ished    by    jDcaceable     and    constitutional 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  51 

means — witliout  tlie  violation  of  law  and 
without  the  destruction  of  property  or  life. 
9th,  That  none  but  the  most  salutary  results 
can  spring  from  a  repeal  of  the  Union." 

He  was  answered  at  great  length  and 
with  marked  ability  by  Mr.  Isaac  Butt, 
Q.  C,  noAv  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Home- 
Rule  movement,  and  even  then  a  quasi- 
repealer,  though  the  spokesman  of  the  Tory 
aldermen.  All  the  arguments  that  keen, 
legal  ingenuity  could  devise  and  finished 
elocution  express,  were  advanced  and  re- 
iterated against  O'Connell's propositions, but 
with  little  effect  on  the  corporators,  and 
none  at  all  on  the  audience.  The  Eman- 
cipator closed  the  debate  in  his  happiest 
style.  "No  report,"  says  one  who  was 
present,  "no  description  could  possibly  do 
justice  to  that  magnificent  reply.  O'Con- 
nell  took  uj)  in  succession  all  the  objections 
of  his  opponents,  and  demolished  them  one 
by  one.  The  wdiole  phalanx  of  Unionists 
looked  like  pygmies  in  the  grasp  of  a  giant. 
The  dexterities  of  Butt — some  of  which 
had  been  plausibly  managed — shrank  and 


52  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

withered  into  nothing  when  touched  by 
O'Connell.  The  consciousness  of  a  great 
moral  triumph  seemed  to  animate  his  voice 
— his  glance — his  gestures.  Never  had  I 
heard  him  so  eloquent ;  never  had  I  wit- 
nessed so  noble  a  display  of  his  transcend- 
ent powers."  The  victory  was  complete, 
and  the  resolution  was  carried  by  a  vote  of 
forty-one  against  fifteen.  The  key-note, 
thus  struck,  reverberated  throughout  the 
island,  and  the  corporations  of  the  various 
cities  hastened  to  take  it  up  and  swell  the 
chorus  for  repeal. 

This  was  but  a  prelude,  however,  to  what 
were,  with  justice,  called  the  ^^  monster 
meetings."  The  first  of  these  was  held  at 
Trim  on  the  16th  of  March,  1843,  and  at 
the  banquet  which  followed  it  O'Connell 
uttered  the  memorable  apothegms:  ^'Bet- 
ter to  die  like  a  freeman  than  be  sold  like 
a  slave ;  .  .  .  it  will  not  do  to  say  you 
like  to  be  free.  What  care  I  for  your 
liking  it,  if  you  do  not  reduce  it  into  action  ? 
The  man  who  thinks  and  does  not  act  upon 
his  thoughts  is  a  scoundrel  who  does  not 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  53 

deserve  to  be  free."  Then  followed  simi- 
lar gatlieriiigs  at  Cabircoiilish,  Bellewstown, 
Clones,  Ratlikeale,  and  Limerick ;  at  the 
latter  place  over  a  liundred  thousand  persons 
of  all  ages,  sexes,  and  conditions  turned  out 
to  receive  him,  and  a  few  days  after  he 
met  nearly  double  that  number  at  Kells. 
On  the  14th  of  May  was  held  the  great 
meeting  of  Mullingar,  of  which  O'Connell, 
afterwards  speaking  before  the  Association, 
said :  ''  I  do  not  exaggerate  my  belief  that 
there  were  hundreds  of  thousands  assem- 
bled at  that  meeting.  It  was  a  majestic 
assembly  of  sober,  loyal,  patriotic  people. 
The  number  of  Catholic  clergymen  that 
attended  there — the  talent  they  displayed 
— the  anxiety  they  exhibited,  made  it  still 
more  important ;  and  then  there  were  two 
bishops  of  the  Catholic  Church  at  the  head 
of  the  meeting." 

The  prelates  thus  alluded  to  were  the 
Most  Rev.  Dr.  Cantwell,  the  patriotic  Arch- 
bishop of  Meath,  and  Dr.  Higgins,  Bishop 
of  Ardagh,  the  latter  of  whom,  in  the  course 
of  a  most  glowing  speech,  said : 


54  THE  JMEN  OF  '48. 

"  I  wisli  to  state  that  I  have  every  reason  to  believe 
— I  may  add  that  I  know,  that  every  Catholic  bishop  in 
Ireland,  without  exception,  is  an  ardent  Repealer. 
I  know  that  virtually  you  all  have  reason  to  believe  that 
the  bishops  of  Ireland  are  repealers ;  but  I  have  now 
again  formally  to  announce  to  you  that  they  have  all 
declared  themselves  as  such,  and  that  from  shore  to 
shore  we  are  repealers.  I,  for  one,  defy  all  the  minis- 
ters of  England  to  put  down  the  agitation  in  the  diocese 
of  Ardagh.  If  they  attempt,  my  friends,  to  rob  us  of 
the  daylight,  which  is  I  believe,  common  to  all,  and 
prevent  us  from  assembling  in  the  open  fields,  we  will 
retire  to  oui*  chapels,  and  we  shall  suspend  all  other  in- 
struction in  order  to  devote  all  our  time  to  teaching  the 
people  to  be  Repealers  in  spite  of  them.  If  they  beset  our 
temples  and  mix  spies  with  our  people,  Y/e  shall  prepare 
our  people  for  the  circumstances — if  they  bring  us  for  that 
to  the  scaffold,  in  dying  for  the  cause  of  our  country, 
we  shall  bequeath  our  wrongs  to  our  successors." 

The  allusion  in  Bishop  Higgins's  address 
to  the  possibility  of  coercive  measures  being 
resorted  to,  was  called  out  by  the  declaration 
of  Sir  Robert  Peel,  the  English  prime  minis- 
ter, in  response  to  a  question  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  that  "  there  is  no  influence, 
no  power,  no  authority  which  the  prerogative 
of  the  crown  or  the  existing  laws  give  the 
government,  that  shall  not  be  exercised  for 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  ^5 

the  purpose  of  maintaining  the  Union — the 
dissolution  of  whicli  would  involve,  not 
merely  the  repeal  of  an  act  of  parliament, 
but  the  dismemberment  of  this  great  empire." 
He  likewise  stated  the  further  threat  that  if 
the  laws  then  on  the  statute  book  were  not 
sufficient  to  suppress  the  Irish  agitation,  the 
ministry  would  apply  to  parliament  for 
more  effectual  powers. 

The  challenge  thus  thrown  down  by 
Peel  to  the  Irish  people  was  quickly  and 
joyously  taken  up,  and  instead  of  intimidat- 
ing them  added  zest  to  their  patriotism. 
The  monster  meetings  became  more  fre- 
quent and  more  gigantic  than  ever.  That 
of  Charleville,  May  18th,  was  attended  by 
some  three  hundred  thousand  people ;  and 
on  the  21st,  half  a  million  persons  assem- 
bled at  Cork  to  hear  the  Liberator  speak,  and 
to  pass  strong,  earnest  resolutions  in  fa- 
vor of  home  government.  Two  days  after 
he  a'ddressed  four  hundred  thousand  at 
Cashel,  and  on  the  25th,  an  equal  number  at 
Nenagh.  On  the  28th,  over  a  quarter  of  a 
million  assembled  at  Longford  ;  on  the  4th 


56  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

of  June,  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
met  at  Drogheda ;  four  days  subsequently 
there  were  three  hundred  thousand  at  Kil- 
kenny ;  four  hundred  thousand  at  Mallow, 
on  the  11th;  seven  hundred  thousand  in 
Clare  on  the  15th,  and  a  hundred  thousand 
at  Athlone,  the  centre  of  Ireland,  on  the 
16th  of  June. 

Never  was  there  more  order,  good-humor, 
or  stern  resolve  exliibited  in  any  nation  or 
age  than  that  which  characterized  those  im- 
mense assemblages  of  unarmed  men ;  and 
never  did  popular  orator,  warrior,  or  mon- 
arch in  ancient  or  modern  days  appear  be- 
fore such  numerous,  obedient,  and  enthusi- 
astic multitudes.  The  very  name  of  O'Con- 
nell  was  a  talisman  that  called  together,  on 
the  shortest  notice,  hundreds  of  thousands, 
and  though  it  was  beyond  the  reach  of 
possibility  that  any  human  being  could  be 
heard  by  one  half  of  those  assembled  on 
such  occasions,  those  who  did  not  heai*  saw 
their  darling  chief,  and  went  away  con- 
tented to  learn  subsequently  the  gist  of  his 
words  from  their  more  fortunate  neighbors. 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  57 

The  numbers  who  left  their  ordinary  avo- 
cations and  travelled  for  miles  to  attend 
those  monster  meetings  were  incredible,  nor 
could  we  believe  them  ourselves  had  we  not 
personally  witnessed  two  such  gatherings. 
They  were  usually  held  in  the  vicinity  of 
places  where  two  or  more  roads  intersected 
each  other.  From  early  dawn  of  the  event- 
ful day  of  such  a  meeting  might  be  seen 
throngs  of  men  of  all  ranks  in  life  troop- 
ing along  the  roads,  converging  on  the  point 
cVapimi.  The  rural  districts  gave  forth 
thousands  of  stalworth  farmers,  well  mount- 
ed, and  myriads  of  hardy  tillers  of  the  soil 
on  foot ;  while  the  villages  and  towns  sent 
out  their  various  trades,  under  proper  leaders, 
with  the  banners  and  other  appropriate  in- 
signia of  their  guilds.  Bands  of  music, 
generally  furnished  by  the  local  temperance 
societies,  were  interspersed  in  the  various 
tributary  processions,  and  on  the  pure  morn- 
ing breeze  floated  the  stin-ing  notes  of  many 
a  martial  or  patriotic  air.  As  each  detach- 
ment arrived  it  was  assigned  its  proper  place 
on  the  field  with  something  like  military 


58  THE  MEN  OF  '48 

order ;  the  cavalry,  or  rather  the  cavalcades, 
on  the  flanks,  and  the  footmen  in  the  centre, 
till  a  complete  semi-disk  was  formed  in  front 
of  the  platform.  Though  thirty  years  have 
passed  we  almost  imagine  we  can  once  more 
behold  the  grand  spectacle.  There  is  a 
pause :  a  cloud  of  dust  is  seen  in  the  far 
distance,  and  a  cheer  from  those  nearest  to 
it  announces  that  it  is  the  carriao^'e  of  the 
Liberator.  The  shout  is  taken  up  along  the 
line,  again  and  again  repeated.  The  car- 
riages halt  at  the  rear  of  the  platform,  and 
O'Connell  and  his  staff  ascend,  the  numerous 
bands  playing  a  welcome.  The  chairman 
gets  up  to  open  the  meeting,  but  he  is 
scarcely  heard  or  heeded.  At  last  a  majes- 
tic figure  comes  forward,  and,  doffing  his 
cap,  bows  low  to  the  multitude  amid  a  storm, 
a  very  hurricane  of  applause.  His  presence 
alone  is  a  speech ;  in  his  eye  there  is  the  elo- 
quence of  a  hundred  orators;  his  port  is 
the  sublime  impersonation  of  grandeur  and 
power.  He  stands  indeed  the  '^  uncrowned 
monarch  of  the  Irish  people";  and  never 
had  king  or  kaiser  more  devoted  subjects. 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  59 

At  length  he  is  allowed  to  speak ;  and  his 
stentorian  tones  roll  over  the  heads  of  that 
sea  of  human  beings  like  a  roll  of  thunder 
or  the  voice  of  the  storm,  till  even  the  very 
hills  take  them  up  and  send  them  back  again. 
Those  who  are  fortunately  nearest  to  him, 
strain  every  nerve  to  drink  in  each  word 
he  says ;  those  far  beyond  ear-shot  are  con- 
tent to  rivet  their  gaze  on  that  ponderous 
face,  and  guess,  from  its  varied  expression, 
the  meaning  of  what  he  is  saying.  But 
though  tens  and  hundreds  of  thousands,  from 
different  parishes,  baronies,  and  even  coun- 
ties, are  assembled,  all  is  order,  peace,  and 
the  best  of  feelings ;  and  when  the  meeting 
is  over  they  disperse.  Each  goes  to  his 
home,  full  of  enthusiasm  and  hope  for  his 
native  land. 

With  wonderful  energy  O'Connell  con- 
tinued his  series  of  assemblies  into  the 
early  autumn.  In  the  latter  part  of  June, 
and  the  months  of  July  and  August,  meet- 
ings were  held  at  Dundalk,  Skibbereen, 
Galway,  Donnybrook,  Waterford,  Tulla- 
more,  Wexford,  Tuam,  Mayo,    Clontibret, 


60  THE  MEN  OF   '48. 

and  other  central  localities,  at  which,  it 
was  estimated,  at  least  three  millions  of 
people,  collectively,  attended.  At  the  his- 
toric hill  of  Tar  a,  on  the  15  th  of  August, 
another  demonstration  of  surpassing  sublim- 
ity was  made.  "  Nearly  every  district  in 
Ireland,"  writes  a  biographer  of  O'Connell, 
^^sent  its  tributaries  to  this  great  ocean  of 
human  life.  The  meeting  was  enlivened 
by  forty-two  bands  of  music,  some  of  which 
liad  travelled  a  distance  of  over  fifty  miles. 
During  the  whole  preceding  night  crowds 
were  constantly  arriving,  and  at  the  dawn 
of  day  the  grass-gi'own  hill,  clothed  in  j)er- 
petual  verdure — where  St.  Patrick  converted 
kings  and  the  United  Irishmen  fought  for  the 
freedom  of  Ireland — was  mantled  with  men 
— black  with  human  swarms.  Nothing 
else  could  be  seen.  O'Connell's  carriage, 
slowly  wading  through  this  dense  mass, 
consumed  two  hours  in  accomplishing  one 
mile.  As  he  approached  the  hill  he  could 
see  a  priest  on  the  very  summit,  standing 
before  a  temporary  altar,  celebrating  the 
divine  mysteries,  at  which  seven  hundred 


THE  Mi:X  OF  '48.  61 

thousand  people  knelt  and  prayed.  When 
the  Masses,  which  continued  from  nine  till 
twelve,  were  all  ended,  a  priest  preached  a 
sermon  on  temperance,  and,  raising*  his 
hands,  invoked  the  blessing  of  heaven  on 
the  bendino^  thousands  and  on  their  Liber- 
at  or," 

At  the  last  of  these  great  popular  gather- 
ings, which  took  place  at  Mullaghmast  in  the 
following  October,  an  incident  occurred 
which,  though  jDcaceful  and  harmless  in 
itself,  was  full  of  significance  to  the  English 
authorities,  and  doubtless  had  a  great  influ- 
ence on  their  subsequent  dealings  with  the 
repeal  leaders.  Nearly  half  a  million  people 
were  surrounding  the  platform  upon  wliicli 
was  seated  the  Liberator  in  all  the  plenitude 
of  his  power,  and  with  a  dignity  that  his  long 
and  hitherto  successful  struo-o-les  with  the 
oppressor  had  added  to  his  naturally  noble 
form  and  reverend  old  age.  Suddenly  there 
emerged  from  the  crowd  of  distinguished 
gentlemen  on  the  stand,  no  less  a  personage 
than  the  sculptor  Hogan,  who  advancing 
toward  O'Connell,  placed  on  his  head  a  cap 


62  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

of  green  velvet  embroidered  with  gold,  and 
designed  after  tlie  fashion  of  an  ancient 
Irish  crown.  ''  Sir,"  said  the  donor,  when 
the  wild  applanse  of  the  meeting  had  sub- 
sided, ''  my  only  regret  is  that  this  is  not 
of  gold."  The  Liberator  in  reply  said,  in 
his  most  impressive  manner,  ''  I  shall  wear 
this  cap  with  the  proud  remembrance  that 
it  was  given  to  me  on  the  Rath  of  Mullagh- 
mast,  and  that  it  was  placed  upon  my  head 
by  one  of  the  first  of  modern  sculptors  in 
this  or  any  country.  I  shall  continue  to 
wear  it  during  my  life,  and  it  shall  after- 
wards be  bm-ied  with  me  in  my  grave." 

This  meeting  may  be  called  the  culmina- 
tion of  the  Repeal  movement ;  much  that 
followed  was  downward,  hopeless,  and  full 
of  misery  and  national  humiliation. 

It  having  been  agreed  between  the 
leaders  in  the  Association  that  the  out- door 
agitation  for  the  year  should  be  closed  by  a 
grand  rally  to  sm-pass  all  preceding  ones, 
the  plains  of  Clontarf,  outside  Dublin, 
sacred  in  Ireland's  history  as  the  scene  of 
the  utter  defeat  of  the  Danish  invaders  by 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  63 

the  illustrious  Brian,  and  the  spot  upon 
which  that  great  warrior  and  statesman 
died,  Sunday,  the  8th  of  October,  was 
selected  as  the  day ;  but  long  before  its 
arrival  the  metropolis  was  crowded  with 
deputations  from  the  principal  cities  and 
tOAvns,  and  visitors  not  only  from  the  remot- 
est parts  of  the  island,  but  from  England, 
Scotland,  and  the  Continent.  The  Castle 
authorities,  alarmed  at  the  previous  impres- 
sive demonstrations,  resolved  at  all  hazards 
to  prevent  the  intended  assemblage,  and 
took  such  insidious  steps  to  carry  out  their 
plans,  as  led  to  the  very  grave  suspicion 
that  they  intended,  if  opportunity  offered,  a 
general  massacre  of  the  defenceless  people. 
Though  the  day  and  place  of  meeting 
were  known  to  every  one  weeks  before,  it 
was  only  on  the  7th,  the  day  previous  to  the 
one  selected  by  the  Repealers,  that  the  inten- 
tion of  the  government  was  made  manifest. 
Late  on  the  evening  of  Saturday,  when  it 
was  too  dark  for  the  passers-by  to  read,  a 
proclamation  was  posted  on  the  city  walls, 
signed  by  the  Lord-Lieutenant,  De  Grey, 


6  4  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

proliibiting  the  meeting.  At  tlie  same  time 
the  roads  leading  from  all  directions  into 
Dublin  were  thronged  by  ardent  and  en- 
thusiastic repealers,  who  hoped  that  the 
next  morning  would  bring  them  face  to  face 
with  tlie  much  loved  Chieftain,  who  then 
held  the  destiny  of  their  country  in  his 
hands.  It  was  impossible  that  those  num- 
berless thousands  could  be  informed  of  the 
proclamation  or  intercepted  in  their  march 
and  prevented  from  encamping  overnight 
on  the  ground,  except  extraordinary  efforts 
Avere  made  to  apprise  them  of  tlie  villanous 
plans  of  the  government.  The  Repeal 
Committee  hastily  met,  O'Connell  at  its 
head,  and  resolved,  even  at  that  late  mo- 
ment, to  frustrate  the  diabolical  -designs  of 
their  enemies  by  postponing  the  meeting. 
As  quickly  as  possible  the  public  were  in- 
formed of  this  determination  by  a  counter 
proclamation  signed  by  O'Connell ;  and 
messengers,  well  mounted,  were  despatched 
in  every  direction  along  the  road,  to  turn 
back  the  hosts  who  were  concentrating  on 
the  capital. 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  65 

At  the  time,  and  some  years  after,  the 
wisdom  and  expediency  of  tins  decision  of 
tlie  committee  were  very  seriously  doubted 
by  men  of  large  intelligence  and  warm 
national  feeling ;  but  in  the  light  of  the 
experience  of  more  than  a  quarter  of  a 
century  we  think  that  to  have  attempted  a 
meetinof"  on  that  occasion  would  have  been 
an  act  of  gross  cruelty  and  inhumanity. 
The  assembled  people  would  have  been,  to 
a  man,  unarmed,  wdiile  the  government  was 
fully  prepared.  Of  cavalry,  artillery,  and 
infantry  it  had  abundance,  in  fact  a  very 
respectable  army,  well  drilled,  officered, 
and  equipped;  the  guns  of  the  Pigeon  House 
fort  covered  the  approaches  to  Clontarf, 
while  three  ships  of  war  in  the  harbor  ran 
out  their  guns  to  enfilade  the  very  place  of 
the  expected  meeting.  Had  a  contrary 
policy  been  pursued  than  tliat  suggested  by 
O'Connell,  the  result  would  have  been, 
beyond  any  doubt,  a  most  relentless  and 
merciless  slaughter  of  the  defenceless 
patriots,  to  which  the  very  magnitude,  and 
density  of  their  ranks  would  have  contrib- 


66  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

utecl  additional  horror.  Fortunately,  the 
meeting  did  not  take  place,  and  the  repeal 
cause  was  greatly  the  gainer  thereby. 

During  all  the  commotion  of  the  memo- 
rable repeal  year,  the  Nation  fairly  glittered 
with  arguments  in  favor  of  the  movement, 
and  irresistible  appeals  to  the  people  to 
rise  up  and  assert  their  rights  to  self-govern- 
ment. O'Connell  never  had  so  useful  an 
ally  as  this  potent  newspaper,  the  product 
of  a  hundred  gifted,  energetic,  and  accom- 
plished minds :  and,  though  he  sometimes 
thought  its  tone  too  revolutionary,  he 
gladly  accepted  the  services,  and  freely 
recognized  the  ability  and  sincerity  of  its 
conductors.  The  plain,  straightforward,  and 
overpowering  logic  of  Duffy ;  the  brilliant, 
vehement  prose  and  poetiy  of  Davis,  and 
the  multitudinous  and  ever- varying  essays 
and  poems  of  a  host  of  contributors,  all 
concentrated  in  one  journal  and  on  one 
object,  could  not  be  resisted  by  Irish  hearts. 
The  efforts  of  the  Nation,  which  were  ever 
directed  to  heal  all  dissensions  among  Irish- 
men of  different  forms  of  faith,  and  to  unite 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  67 

Catholics  and  Protestants  nnder  the  one 
banner,  were  about  tins  time  particularly 
successful;  and  its  friends  were  deeply 
gratified  by  the  adhesion  of  a  gentleman 
who  w\as  destined  to  occupy  a  very  promi- 
nent position  in  the  subsequent  struggles 
for  repeal. 

On  the  22d  of  October,  1843,  the  new 
building  erected  by  the  Association,  called 
Conciliation  Hall,  was  formally  opened. 
Though  very  spacious  it  was  filled  to  over- 
flowing. Many  prominent  gentlemen  pre- 
sented themselves,  and  letters  of  congratu- 
lation and  sympathy  were  read  from  Lord 
French,  Sir  C.  Wolesley,  Sir  R.  Musgrave, 
and  others.  But  what  created  the  most 
intense  satisfaction  was  a  communication 
from  William  S.  O'Brien,  M.  P.  for  Lim- 
erick, announcing  his  adhesion  to  the  cause 
of  the  repeal  of  the  Union.  A  portion  of 
that  letter  read  as  follows  : 

"  Lest  I  should  be  led  to  form  a  precipitate  decision,  I 
availed  myself  of  the  interval  which  followed  the  close 
of  the  session,  to  examine  whether,  among  the  Govern- 
ments of  Central  Europe,  there  are  any  so  indifferent  to 


68  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

the  interests  of  tlieir  subjects  as  England  Las  been  to 
the  welfare  and  happiness  of  our  population.  After 
visiting  Belgium,  and  all  the  principal  capitals  of 
Germany  I  returned  home  impressed  with  the  sad  con 
viction  that  tliere  is  more  human  misery  in  one  county 
in  Ireland,  than  throughout  all  the  populous  cities  and 
distiicts  wliich  I  had  visited.  On  landing  in  England 
I  learn  that  the  Ministry,  instead  of  applying  themselves 
to  remove  the  causes  of  complaint,  have  resolved  to 
deprive  us  even  of  tlie  liberty  of  discontent — that  public 
meetings  are  to  be  suppressed — and  that  state  prosecu- 
tions are  to  be  carried  on  against  Mr.  O'Connell,  and 
others,  on  some  frivolous  charges  of  sedition  and 
conspiracy. 

"  I  should  be  unworthy  to  belong  to  a  nation  which 
may  claim,  at  least  as  a  characteristic  virtue,  that  it 
exhibits  increased  fidelity  in  tlie  hour  of  danger,  if  I 
were  to  delay  any  longer  to  dedicate  myself  to  the  cause 
of  my  country.  Slowly,  reluctantly  convinced  that 
Ireland  has  nothing  to  Lope  fiom  the  sagacity,  the 
justice,  or  the  generosity  of  tLe  EnglisL  parliament,  my 
reliance  sLall  henceforth  be  placed  upon  our  own  native 
energy  and  patriotism." 

When  O'Brien  resolved  to  cast  liis  lot 
with  the  national  party  he  was  in  the  jDrime 
of  his  manhood-  and  in  the  full  enjoyment 
of  his  mental  faculties.  Having"  been  born 
in  Clare  on  the  1 7th  day  of  October,   1803, 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  G9 

he  had  just  completed  his  fortieth  year,  and 
thouo'h  educated  at  Harrow  and  Cambridofe, 
ndiere  EngHsh  prejudices  prevailed  to  their 
fullest  extent,  his  mind,  while  absorbing 
all  the  knowledge  afforded  in  these  institu- 
tions, never  for  a  moment  entertained  a 
feeling  but  those  of  proud  love  for  his  na- 
tive land  and  a  yearning  sympathy  for  her 
manifold  sufferings.  Descended  from  the 
princely  house  of  Thomond,  whose  ances- 
tors can  be  traced  in  an  uninterrupted  line, 
from  the  great  Brian  Boromha,  he  was  by 
nature  and  by  blood  a  patriot.  His  grand- 
father. Sir  Lucius  O'Brien,  who  had  long 
been  a  member  of  the  Irish  parliament,  was 
noted  for  his  independence  and  unflinching 
honesty;  and  his  father.  Sir  Edward  O'Brien, 
Avho  sat  in  the  same  body  during  its  latter 
years,  w^as  one  of  the  stanchest  and  most 
incorruptible  of  the  anti-Union  party. 

Mr.  W.  S.  O'Brien  entered  the  imperial 
])arlianient  for  the  borough  of  Ennis  when 
in  his  twenty-fifth  year,  and  in  1832  he  was 
elected  by  the  voters  of  the  county  of  Lim- 
erick one  of  their  representatives,  a  position 


70  THE  MEN  OF  '43. 

he  continued  to  hold  until  1849,  when  his 
seat  was  declared  vacant.  He  commenced 
public  life  as  a  moderate  Whig,  but  from 
the  first  he  considered  the  interests  of  his 
country  paramount  to  all  party  considera- 
tions. In  1829,  when  O'Connell  stood  for 
Clare  a  second  time,  O'Brien  issued  an 
address  to  tlie  people  of  his  native  county,  in 
which  he  endeavored,  but  without  effect, 
to  dissuade  them  from  supporting  the  Eman- 
cipator. "  Mr.  O'Connell,"  he  wrote,  *'  en- 
deavors to  delude  those  among  you  who 
know  little  of  political  matters,  by  represent- 
ing himself  as  the  sole  author  of  the  eman- 
cipation of  the  Catholics.  When  you  hear 
these  extravagant  pretensions,  you  should 
be  informed  that  it  has  long  been  a  question 
with  the  most  attentive  observers  of  the 
progress  of  that  measure,  whether  his  intem- 
perance has  not  been  the  chief  cause  of  its 
delay ;  and  that  of  the  majorities  that  car- 
ried it  through,  more  than  four-fifths  were 
English  representatives,  wholly  beyond  the 
reach  of  any  influence,  except  the  justice  of 
the  cause — and  that  all  were  Protestants." 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  71 

The  first  statement  in  this  paragraph  mani-- 
festly  is  an  error ;  the  two  latter  are  facts 
very  capable  of  elucidation.  More  than 
four-fiftlis  of  the  law-makers  foi'  Ireland  un- 
fortunately are  Englishmen  who  hold  them- 
selves ''  wholly  beyond  the  reach  of  an  in- 
fluence "  which  millions  of  the  Irish  people 
— composing  it  is  said  an  integral  portion 
of  the  British  empire — are  unable  to  bring  to 
bear  on  them,  hence  the  strongest  argu- 
ment in  favor  of  a  repeal  of  the  Union. 
That  the  Emancipation  act  was  carried  by 
Protestant  votes  arose  from  the  very  good 
reason  that  at  the  time  none  but  Protestants 
were  allowed  to  sit  in  parliament. 

Mr.  O'Connell's  reply  to  O'Brien  was  for- 
cible and  convincinoj" ;  but  beino"  altog-ether 
too  personal,  and  so  tinged  with  unfounded 
aspersions  on  the  famil}^  of  his  opponent, 
much  of  its  moral  effect  was  lost  on  the 
public.  O'Brien  had  also  asserted  that 
none  of  the  gentry  of  Clare  supported  the 
Emancipation  candidate  ;  and  this  expres- 
sion having  excited  the  ire  of  the  O'Gorman 
Mahon  and  Mr.  Steele,  who  were  natives  of 


72  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

the  county,  the  latter  challenged  him  to 
mortal  combat,  the  former  acting  as  his 
second.  A  duel  was  the  consequence,  in 
which  shots  were  exchanged ;  but  happily 
neither  of  the  principals  was  injured,  and 
the  matter  was  amicably  settled.  Mr. 
Mahon  in  turn  sent  a  hostile  message  ta 
O'Brien,  but  upon  his  explaining  that  the 
words  to  which  exception  had  been  taken 
were  not  intended  for  him,  that  matter  was 
allowed  to  drop. 

Still  O'Brien  in  parliament  continued  to 
hold  a  position  of  neutrality,  and  semi-in- 
dependence of  the  existing  parties,  without 
being  looked  upon  as  belonging  to  the  Na- 
tionalists. Time,  however,  was  slowly  but 
surely  bringing  to  him  the  sad  conviction 
that  no  justice  could  be  expected  from  Eng- 
lish politicians.  He  was  insensibly  gravi- 
tating toward  the  great  mass  of  his  coun- 
trymen, even  in  spite  of  his  early  impres- 
sions. In  May,  1843,  when  Lord  Chancellor 
Sir  Edward  Sugden  dismissed  all  the  repeal 
magistrates,  he  resigned  his  commission,  and 
in  a  manly  letter  to  Sugden  he  said  that 


THE  MEX  OF  '48.  73 

thoug-li  not  a  repealer  he  could  not  consent  to 
hold  so  important  an  office  upon  such  dis- 
graceful conditions. 

Soon  after,  while  the  parliament  was 
going  through  the  forms  of  a  discussion  on 
the  disarming  act,  O'Brien  rose  from  his  seat, 
and  to  the  amazement  of  both  ^Yliigs  and  Con- 
servatives, moved  that  the  House,  in  place 
of  passing  so  cruel  and  unjustifiable  a 
measure,  should  resolve  itself  in  a  com- 
mittee of  the  whole  to  inquire  into  the  actual 
condition  of  Ireland.  His  speech  on  that 
occasion,  July  4th,  is  said  to  have  been  even 
more  than  usually  grave,  imjDressive,  and 
replete  with  a  knowledge  of  the  resources, 
wants,  and  miseries  of  the  Irish  peojDle.  Mr. 
Mitchell  thus  epitomizes  it  in  his  "History  of 
Ireland":  "He  pointed  out  the  facts  which 
justified  discontent — that  the  union  made 
Ireland  poor  and  kept  her  poor — that  it  en- 
couraged the  absenteeism  and  so  caused  a 
great  rental  to  be  spent  in  England — that, 
nearly  a  million  sterling  of  ^  surplus  revenue,' 
over  what  was  expended  in  the  government 
of  Ireland  was  annually  remitted  from  the 


74  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

Irish  to  the  English  exchequer — that  Irish 
manufactures  had  ceased,  and  the  profits  of 
all  the  manufactured  articles  consumed  in 
that  island  came  to  England — that  the 
tenantry  had  no  permanent  tenm'e  or 
security  that  they  would  derive  benefit  by 
any  imjDrovements  they  might  make — that 
Ireland  had  but  one  hundred  and  five 
members  of  parliament,  whereas  her  popu- 
lation and  revenue  together  entitled  her  to 
one  hundred  and  seventy-five — that  the 
municipal  laws  of  the  two  countries  were  not 
the  same — then  the  new  '  Poor  Law '  was  a 
failure,  and  was  increasing  the  wretchedness 
and  hunger  of  the  people — and  the  right 
honorable  gentleman  (Sir  R.  Peel)  had 
now  declared  his  ultimatum ;  he  had  de- 
clared that  ^conciliation  had  reached  its 
limits';  and  that  the  Irish  should  have  an 
Arms  bill,  and  nothing  but  an  Arms  bill." 
The  motion  so  ably  advocated  was  lost 
the  Disarming  bill  was  passed  into  a  law  by 
overwhelming  majorities ;  and  O'Brien,  de- 
spairing of  any  good  from  alien  legislation, 
and  acting  upon  most  deliberate  conviction, 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  75 

determined  to  devote  the  balance  of  his 
life  to  the  advocacy  of  domestic  govern- 
ment. In  a  popular  point  of  view,  parti- 
cularly in  the  south,  where  he  was  well 
known  and,  personally,  much  respected,  this 
decisive  step  was  a  som'ce  of  deep  congratu- 
lation to  the  repealers ;  but  it  was  as  the 
representative  of  an  ancient  and  most  illus- 
trious line,  as  a  landholder  and  a  Protes- 
tant, that  his  presence  was  most  welcomed 
by  the  leaders  of  the  movement.  Of  thor- 
ough education,  rare  personal  honor  and 
courage,  and  of  stainless  character,  he 
brought  to  the  Association  a  varied  practical 
knowledge  of  the  different  systems  of  Euro- 
pean governments  and  nearly  twenty  years' 
experience  acquired  as  an  indefatigable 
and  observant  parliamentarian. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Arrest  of  O'Connell,  John  O'Connell,  Duffy,  Gray, 
Barrett,  Ray,  Steele,  Rev.  Fathers  Tyrrell  and  Tiemey — 
The  feeling  of  the  country — State  trials — Conviction — 
Effect  in  Parliament — Sentence  and  imjDrisonment — 
More  troops  for  Ireland — Reversal  of  the  judgment — 
General  rejoicing. 

Ox\  tlie  14th  of  October,  1843,  O'Con- 
nell and  a  number  of  his  most  prominent 
associates  were  arrested  and  held  to  bail  on 
charges  of  entering  into  a  conspiracy  to 
intimidate  the  government,  to  supersede 
the  tribunals  of  justice,  and  other  divers 
seditious  practices  too  numerous  to  mention : 
all,  however,  subsequently  set  out  on  a  roll 
of  parchment  ninety-seven  feet  long,  being 
the  indictment,  which  was  found  by  a  Dublin 
grand-jury  January  15th,  1844.  The  names 
Dientioned  in  that  formidable  document 
were,  Daniel  O'Connell,  M.  P.  for  Cork ;  his 
son,  John  O'Connell,  M.  P.  for  Kilkenny ; 
Charles  Gavan  Duffy,  editor  of  tlie^Nation  ; 
Richard  Barrett,   editor  of  tlie  Pilot;   Dr. 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  77 

(now  Sir  John)  Grey,  editor  of  the  Free- 
man s  Journal;  Th<)mas  Matthew  Ray, 
sGcretar}'  of  tlie  Association ;  Rev.  Mr. 
Tierney,  of  Clontibret,  county  Monaghan ; 
and  Tliomas  Steele.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Tyrrell, 
of  Lusk,  county  Dublm,  though'  arrested 
with  the  others,  died  soon  after  from  sick- 
ness superinduced  by  the  extraordinary 
exertions  he  had  used  on  the  eve  of  the  in- 
tended meeting  at  Clontarf 

The  prompt  obedience  of  the  people  to 
the  behests  of  the  repeal  committee  in  de- 
ciding to  postpone  that  gathering  had  so 
much  of  military  disciiDline  in  it,  and  showed 
so  completely  how  thoroughly  O'Connell 
held  them  in  hand,  that  it  is  questionable 
whether  the  step  taken  by  the  authoiities 
was  not  a  blunder  as  much  as,  if  persisted 
in,  it  would  have  been  a  monstrous  crime. 
And  now,  when  the  repealers  saw  their 
trusted  and  faithful  leaders  entangled  in 
the  meshes  of  the  law,  and  that  law  ad- 
ministered in  the  interest  of  their  implacable 
enemies,  by  corrupt  or  weak-minded  j  udges, 
sheriffs  appointed  by  tlie  crown  for  their  sub- 


78  'JfHE  MEN  OF  '48. 

serviency  and  total  absence  of  conscience, 
and  packed  juries  carefully  selected  not  to 
try,  but  to  convict ;  their  conduct  was  ad- 
mirable. Nothing  intimidated  or  disheart- 
ened, they  set  to  work  more  earnestly  than 
ever  to  recruit  the  repeal  ranks.  The 
greatest  excitement,  no  doubt,  prevailed 
throughout  the  island,  but  all  was  peace  and 
order,  and  money  flowed  freely  into  the 
exchequer  of  Conciliation  Hall,  to  be  used 
in  the  propagation  of  the  cause  and  in  de- 
fence of  the  menaced  leaders.  Every  Mon- 
day the  large  hall  of  the  Association  was 
crowded  by  members  of  parliament,  pri- 
vate and  professional  gentlemen  of  for- 
tune and  eminence,  the  stal worth  farmers 
of  the  provinces  and  the  most  respectable 
merchants  and  traders  of  the  metropolis. 

The  trial  itself  lasted  till  the  second  Aveek 
in  February,  but  though  the  deepest  interest 
was  taken  in  its  proceedings,  no  one  was 
astonished  at  the  result ;  for  even  before  its 
commencement  it  was  generally  understood 
that  the  jury  was  to  be  packed;  that  all 
the  Catholics  and  liberal  Protestants  were 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  79 

to  be  stricken  off  the  array,  and  tlie  good 
name,  liberty,  and  property  of  the  accused, 
left  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  Orange- 
men. *^  If  our  Saviour  himself  were 
in  the  dock,"  Jack  Giffard,  a  notorious 
Orange  juryman,  is  reported  to  have  said, 
"  the  Dublin  Orangemen  would  find  him 
guilty  to  serve  their  party."  O'Connell 
and  his  son  were  defended  by  Richard 
Lalor  Shell,  the  eloquent  assistant  of  the 
Liberator  during  the  emancipation  struggle ; 
while  the  other  defendants  were  represented 
by  Whiteside,  Fitzgibbon,  Henn,  and  Mac- 
donagh — all  lawyers  of  great  experience 
and  legal  acumen. 

From  the  beginning  O'Connell  resolved 
to  take  part  in  the  defence.  He  could  not 
let  slip  such  a  favorable  opportunity  to  di- 
late on  his  favorite  theme,  nor  was  it  often 
that  he  could  find  so  peculiar  an  audience 
or  have  his  words  sj)read  so  correctly  and 
extensively  before  the  world.  On  the 
nineteenth  day  of  the  trial  he  rose  and  ad- 
dressed the  jury  in  terms  which,  though 
often  eloquent  and  frequently  impassioned, 


80  THE  MEN  OF  -43. 

were  more  remarkable  for  their  dignity, 
calmness,  and  solidity  of  logic.  He  ignored 
the  smaller  and  more  technical  points  of 
the  counsel  on  both  sides,  and  confined  him- 
self to  two  questions :  that  no  conspiracy 
had  been  formed,  or  attempted  to  be  proved, 
that  the  present  proceeding  was  illegal  and 
unjustifiable,  and  therefore  unlawful  and 
unconstitutional.  In  reference  to  the  former 
he  said  to  the  jury  : 

^^  It  is  quite  certain  that  there  are  considerable  dis- 
crepancies of  opinion  between  you  and  me,  on  subjects 
of  the  utmost  importance j  you  differ  with  me  on  the 
question  of  the  Repeal  of  the  Union — for  if  you  did  not, 
there  is  not  one  of  yoa  would  be  in  that  box;  j^ou 
diflfer  with  me  on  a  more  important  subject,  in  religious 
belief — for  if  you  did  not,  you  would  not  be  in  that  box. 
These  differences  are  perhaps  aggravated  by  the  fact 
that  I  am  not  only  a  Catholic,  but  that  Catholic  who 
(without  boasting)  has  done  most  to  pull  down  that 
Protestant  ascendency  for  which  perhaps  you  were  the 
champions,  but  certainly  not  the  antagonists  j  and 
although  having  established  that  equality,  against 
which  some  of  you  contend  and  against  which  all  your 
opinions  were  formed,  it  does  not  terrify  me  from  the 
performance  of  my  duty ;  for— I  care  not  what  evil 
effects  occur  to  myself  or  what  punishment  it  may  bring 
on  me — I  glory  in  what  I  have  done — I  glory  that  I 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  81 

have  been  the  successful  and  you  the  beaten  party. 
But,  gentlemen,  nevertheless,  I  trust  in  your  honor 
and  sincerity ;  and  to  that  alone  I  appeal.  ...  I 
leave  the  case  in  your  hands.  I  deny  that  I  have  done 
anything  to  stain  me.  I  reject  with  contempt  the  ap- 
pellation of  conspirator.  I  have  acted  boldly  in  open 
day,  in  the  presence  of  the  magistracy  j  there  has  been 
nothino^  secret  or  concealed.  I  have  struofo^led  for  the 
restoration  of  the  parliament  of  my  native  country. 
Others  have  succeeded  before  me ;  but  succeed  or  fail, 
it  was  a  straggle  to  make  the  fairest  land  in  the  world 
possess  those  benefits  which  nature  intended  she  should 
enjoy. " 


In  the  House  of  Commons  the  news  of 
the  conviction  of  the  "  conspirators  "  created 
great  commotion.  The  Whigs  were  out  of 
power  and  the  Tories  were  tottering  to  a 
fall,  so  that  the  spokesmen  of  the  former,  like 
Macaulay,  Russell,  and  others,  with  a  keen 
eye  to  a  restoration,  found  in  the  trial  a 
powerful  weapon  against  their  opponents. 
Lord  Russell,  in  giving  a  history  of  the  pro- 
ceedings in  a  speech  of  several  hours'  du- 
ration, made  use  of  the  following  remarkable 
words,  which  are  here  quoted  as  the  delib- 
erate testimony  of  one  of  the  most  anti- 


82  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

Irish  and  anti-Catliolic  statesmen  tliat 
ever  sat  in  either  house  of  parliament.  He 
said: 

^^  Nominally,  indeed,  the  two  countries  liave  the  same 
laws.  Trial  by  ji^iy?  for  instance,  exists  in  both 
countries;  but  is  it  administered  alike  in  both?  Sir, 
I  remember  on  one  occasion  when  an  honorable  gentle- 
man (Mr.  Brougham),  on  bringing  forward  a  motion,  in 
1823,  on  the  administration  of  the  law  in  Ireland,  made 
use  of  these  words :  '  The  law  of  England  esteemed  all 
men  equal.  It  was  sufficient  to  be  born  within  the  king's 
-allegiance  to  be  entitled  to  all  the  rights  the  loftiest 
.si^bject  of  the  land  enjoyed.  None  were  disqualified  j 
the  only  distinction  was  between  natural  born  subjects 
and  aliens.  Such  indeed  was  the  liberality  of  our  system 
in  the  times  which  we  called  barbarous,  but  from  which, 
in  these  enlightened  days,  it  might  have  been  well  to 
take  a  hint,  that  if  a  man  were  even  an  alien  born,  he 
was  not  deprived  of  the  protection  of  the  law.  In  Ire- 
land, however,  the  law  held  a  directly  opposite  doc- 
trine. The  sect  to  which  a  man  belonged,  the  cast  of 
his  religious  opinions,  the  form  in  which  he  worshipped 
his  Creator,  were  grounds  upon  which  the  law  separated 
him  from  his  fellows,  and  bound  him  to  the  endurance 
of  a  system  of  the  most  cruel  injustice.'  Such  was  the 
statement  of  Mr.  Brougham  when  he  was  the  advocate 
of  the  oppressed.  But,  sir,  let  me  ask,  was  what  I 
have  just  now  read  the  statement  of  a  man  who  was 
ignorant  of  the  country  of  which  he  spoke  ?     No ;  the 


Q 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  8," 

same  language   or  to  the  same  effect,  was  used   by  Sir 
M.   O'Loughlin,  in  liis  evidence  before  tlie  House  of 
Lords.     That  gentleman  stated  that  he  had  been  in  the 
habit  of  going  the  Munster  circuit  for  nineteen  years,  and 
on  that  circuit  it  was  the  general  practice  for  the  Crown, 
in  criminal  prosecutions,  to  set  aside  all  Catholics  and  all 
the  liberal  Protestants  5  and  he  added  that  he  had  been 
informed  that  on  other  circuits  the  practice  was  carried 
on  in  a  more  strict  manner.     Sir  M.  O'Loughlin  also 
mentioned  one  case  of  this  kind  which  took  place  in 
1834,  during   the  lord-lieutenancy  of  the  Marquis  of 
Wellesley,  and  the  attorney-generalship  of  Mr.  Black- 
bourne,  the  present  Master  of  the  Rolls,  and  in  which, 
out  of  forty-three  persons  set  aside  (in  a  cause  which 
was  not  a  political  one)  there  were  thirty-six  Catholics 
and  seven  Protestants,  all  of  them  respectable  men. 
This  practice  is  so  well  known,  and  carried  out  so  gen- 
erally, that  men  known  to  be  liberals,  whether  Catholics 
or  Protestants,  have  ceased  to  attend  assizes,  that  they 
might  not  be  exposed  to  these  public  insults.     Now,  I 
would  ask,  are  these  proofs  of  equal  laws,   or  laws 
equally   administered"?     Could   the    same,    or   similar 
cases  have  happened  in  Yorkshire,  or  Sussex,  or  Kent  ? 
Are  these  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise  made  and  en- 
gagements entered  into  at  the  Union  ?  " 

Such  language  as  this  from  the  leader  of 
a  great  party,  though  even  less  than  the 
truth,  would  at  the  time  of  utterance  have 
astonished  everybody  had  it  not  been  felt 


84  THE  :MEN  of   '48. 

that  an  English  Whig  is  capable  of  saying 
or  doing  anything  for  the  sake  of  office. 
Four  short  years  were  not  allowed  to  pass 
when  the  very  same  crimes  against  justice, 
in  a  more  aggravated  form,  were  perpe- 
trated by  this  party,  and  tliose  very  speak- 
ers who  had  once  more  regained  power. 

From  the  day  of  the  arrest  of  the  repeal 
leaders,  troops  were  being  constantly 
poured  into  the  country;  regiment  after  regi- 
ment was  dail}^  landed  in  Dublin  or  some 
of  the  neighboring  ports;  marching  and 
countermarching  were  the  order  of  the  day, 
and  the  streets  of  the  capital  were  in  a  per- 
petual state  of  excitement  from  the  glitter- 
ing of  thousands  of  bayonets,  the  gleaming 
of  sabres,  and  the  heavy  rumble  of  artil- 
lery and  caissons.  In  October,  there  were 
in  Ireland  twenty-eight  thousand  regular 
troops,  besides  about  ten  thousand  well- 
armed  constabulary,  and  the  remnant  of  the 
militia;  in  February  following  it  was  cal- 
culated that  there  were  at  least  forty  thou- 
sand soldiers  in  Dublin  alone,  or  within  a 
coui^le  of  days'  march  of  it.     And,  as  if  this 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  85 

were  not  enough,  the  King  of  Hanover — a 
man  black  with  every  crime  political 
and  personal  from  murder  downwards — 
was  graciously  jDleased  to  offer  the  loan  of 
twenty  thousand  men  to  her  most  gracious 
majesty  to  slaughter  her  most  faithful  sub- 
jects a  les  Hessians,  The  objects  of  the 
government  were  now  perfectly  patent — to 
provoke  discontent  by  imprisoning  the 
leaders ;  to  drive  the  people,  thus  left 
without  guides,  into  insurrection,  and  to 
enact  the  tragedy  of  '98  over  again.  The 
means  which  Pitt  and  Castlereagh  adopted 
to  insure  the  Union,  it  was  supposed  by 
Peel  and  De  Gray,  would  prove  equally 
effectual  to  perpetuate  it. 

On  the  30th  of  May,  1844,  nearly  thi'ee 
months  after  con^dction,  the  '"''  conspirators  " 
were  brought  up  in  the  Queen's  Bench  for 
sentence.  To  O'Connell  as  the  chief  offen- 
der was  awarded  one  year's  imprisonment,  a 
fine  of  £2,000,  and  the  filing  of  a  personal 
bond  of  £5,000,  with  two  sureties  justifying 
in  £2,500  each,  to  keep  the  peace  for  seven 
3'ears.     Charles  Gavan  Duffy  and  the  other 


86  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

traverser  were  to  be  imprisoned  for  nine 
months,  fined  each  £50,  and  to  enter  into 
their  own  recognizance  of  £1,000,  with  two 
sureties  of  £500  each,  to  keep  the  peace 
for  the  same  length  of  time.  This  was 
EngHsh  justice — as  then  and  now,  and  all 
the  time  administered  in  Ireland. 

The  conspirators  against  the  peace  of  the 
realm  were  then  safely  lodged  in  Richmond 
penitentiary.  Where  now  were  the  millions 
that  rallied  round  them  the  previous  year  ? 
Where  the  masses  that  greeted  the  Liber- 
ator at  Mallow  and  Wexford,  Tara  and  Mul- 
laghmast,  and  cheered  to  the  echo  every 
word  that  fell  from  his  lips  savoring  of  free- 
dom and  independence  I  Surely  they  would 
rise  in  their  might,  and  by  the  sheer  force 
of  numbers  overwhelm  their  oppressors  and 
drive  them  from  the  island.  Not  so.  The 
dragoons,  the  artillery,  and  the''  British  gren- 
adiers" sharpened  their  sabres,  trained  their 
guns  and  pipe-clayed  their  accoutrements 
in  tranquillity.  Even  the  bloody  King  of 
Hanover  lost  the  opportunity  of  filling  his 
depleted  coffers  from  the  common  treasury 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  87 

of  England  and  Ireland  by  selling  the  blood 
of  his  stolid  subjects  :  for  O'Connell,  imme- 
diately after  his  imprisonment,  wrote  to  the 
Irish  people  to  be  patient  and  to  give  the 
enemy  no  chance  of  revenge ;  and  they 
obeyed  him  most  faithfully.  To  a  friend 
who  had  called  on  him  in  jDrison  he  re- 
marked :  "  The  people  are  behaving  nobly. 
I  was  at  first  afraid,  despite  all  my  teaching, 
that  at  such  a  trying  crisis  they  would 
have  done  either  too  much  or  too  little — 
either  have  been  stung  into  an  outbreak — 
or  awed  into  apathy.  Neither  has  hap- 
pened, blessed  be  God ! — the  people  are 
acting  nobly ! " 

The  people  did  indeed  exhibit  remark- 
able forbearance  and  vitality.  Had  O'Con- 
nell and  his  friends  but  given  the  slightest 
encouragement  for  armed  resistance  and 
rescue,  there  cannot  be  the  least  doubt  but 
both  would  have  been  cheerfully,  nay, 
gladly  attempted  by  millions  of  their 
devoted  adherents ;  nor  can  the  horrible 
result  of  such  rash  acts,  if  resorted  to,  be 
for    a    moment    questioned.     As    it    was, 


88  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

chafing  under  tlie  double  insult  of  packed 
juries  and  hireling  soldiery,  the  people 
showed  their  attachment  to  their  chiefs  as 
well  as  their  contempt  for  the  troops,  by 
thousands  of  local  meetings  and  by  pour- 
ing into  the  repeal  treasury  thousands  of 
pounds  sterling  ever}^  week.  A  ''  prison 
fund,"  for  the  further  defence  of  the  incar- 
cerated, was  likewise  established,  while  the 
citizens  of  Dublin  flooded  the  jail  with  all 
sorts  of  presents  for  their  joint  j)ei'sonal 
comfort. 

Meanwhile  an  appeal  had  been  taken 
from  the  lower  Court  to  the  House  of 
Lords.  After  a  good  deal  of  learned  non- 
sense on  the  part  of  the  noble  members  of 
that  body,  lay  and  clerical,  the  writ  of 
error  was  referred  to  the  law  lords,  Lynd- 
hurst,  Brougham  (the  same  wliom  Russell 
had  quoted !)  Cottenham,  Denman,  and 
Campbell.  The  first  two,  being  of  the  party 
in  power,  decided  that  the  trial  was  in  every 
respect  conducted  according  to  law  and 
equity ;  the  others,  who  were  on  the  side 
of  those  out  of  ofhce,  while  not  joassing  on 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  89 

tlie  guilt  or  innocence  of  the  prisoners,  de- 
clared the  method  of  trying  them  con- 
trary to  law,  and  that  they  should  be  set 
at  liberty. 

This  news  reached  Dublin  on  the  5th  of 
September,  and  was  spread  through  the 
island  with  wonderful  rapidity.  The  peo- 
ple were  intoxicated  with  joy,  their  enthu- 
siasm knew  no  bounds,  for  they  looked  upon 
the  reversal  of  the  decision  of  the  Orange 
jury  and  the  corrupt  judges,  as  another 
triumph  for  their  invincible  leader,  and  as 
the  harbinger  of  new  life  for  their  country. 
Two  days  afterwards  the  formal  procession 
from  the  Bridewell  to  O'Connell's  house 
was  arrayed  at  the  former  place,  and  after 
passing  tlu'ough  the  principal  streets  of  the 
city  halted  at  Merrion  square.  Half  a 
million  of  people  thronged  the  line  of  march ; 
the  houses,  almost,  without  exception,  were 
gayly  decorated,  and  a  spirit  of  enthusiasm 
and  exaltation  beyond  description  pervaded 
all  ranks  of  society.  From  the  balcony  of 
his  residence  O'Connell  addressed  the  surg- 
ing  multitude    below.       Alluding   to   the 


90  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

former   monster  meetings   lie    said :    ^^  One 
meetino'  alone  remained  unassembled — the 
meetinof  of  Clontarf     Some  of  the  minions 
of  power  laid,  I  fear,  a  scheme  to  dye  that 
day  in  gore — to  deluge  the  soil  with  the 
blood  of  the  people ;  but  w^e  disappointed 
them.     I  issued  my  counter  proclamation 
audit  was  obeyed.     The  people  did  not  put 
themselves  in   danger.     But   has   the   law 
since  declared  that  we  were  acting  illegally  1 
Oh !     no — it   dared   not   do   that ;    but   it 
spelled  illegality  out  of  a  number  of  legal 
meetings.     Our  Clontarf  meeting  has  not 
taken  place  as  yet,  but  it  w^ill  be  for  the 
Repeal   Association,    which   has   the    con- 
fidence of  the  Irish  people,   to  determine 
, whether  it  may  not  be  necessary,  for  the 
sake  of  public  principle,  to  decide  wdiether 
that  meeting  may  not  be  hereafter  held. 
I  hope  they  may  arrive  at  the  conclusion 
that  it  is  not  necessary  to  have  that  meet- 
ing ;  but  if  the  cause  of  liberty  requires  it, 
we  will  all  go 'there,  peaceably  and  un- 
armed, and  we  shall  return    with   an  .  in- 
creased  determination    that   Ireland   shall 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  91 

be  a  nation."  From  the  corporate  cities 
and  towns  came  large  deputations  to  con- 
gratulate the  liberated  '^  conspirators,"  and 
throughout  the  provinces  bonfires  burned 
on  every  hill,  and  newspapers  were  in 
great  demand ;  while  the  Nation^  in  honor 
of  the  event  and  of  the  triumph  of  its 
principles  in  the  person  of  its  chief  editor, 
appeared  the  following  week  j)i'iiited  in 
green  ink. 

Had  the  great  agitator  died  at  this  time 
the  whole  world  would  have  revered  his 
memory  and  exalted  his  glory;  his  name 
would  have  been  a  spell  to  evoke  the  spirit 
of  liberty  in  every  land  and  to  point  the 
way  to  freedom's  sacred  altar.  He,  too, 
would  have  left  his  people,  as  he  fondly 
believed  thev  then  were,  on  the  threshold 
of  legislative  independence,  and  would  have 
been  saved  the  torture  of  beholding  the 
gathering  clouds  of  famine,  pestilence,  and 
woe  which,  though  yet  unnoticed,  were  fast 
enshrouding  the  land  in  a  pall  of  gloom  and 
untold  misery.  But  such  was  not  his  destiny. 
His  soul  had  to  be  purified  by  the  sight  of 


92  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 


human  sufferings  lie  could  not  alleviate,  and 
his  death  was  to  take  place  ainonof  a  strano-e 
people,  far  from  the  land  and  the  nation 
whose  applause  he  perhaps  sometimes  loved 
more  than  a  Christian  statesman  should  have 
done. 


CHAPTER  V. 

State  of  the  country — Its  prosperity,  resources,  and 
revenue — Diminution  of  crime — Rev.  Theobald  Mathew 
— His  birth,  education,  and  services — His  political  views 
— Effect  of  his  labors  on  the  national  cause — Affection 
for  the  "Young  Irelanders" — O'ConnelPs  and  O'Brien's 
eulogies  on  his  character. 

Before  we  proceed  to  trace  the  current 
of  disastrous  events  which  led  to  the  de- 
struction of  the  plans  and  hopes  of  the 
national  party,  and  gave  to  exile  or  the 
grave  nearly  a  moiety  of  the  population,  we 
may  be  pardoned  for  dwelling  a  few 
moments  on  the  social  and  industrial  con- 
dition of  the  country  immediately  pre- 
vious and  subsequent  to  the  imprisonment 
of  the  leaders  in  the  Repeal  movement. 

The  population,  the  true  wealth  of  a 
nation,  which  in  1841,  had  been  officially 
reported  as  considerably  over  eight  mil- 
lions, could  have  been  little  less  than  nine 
millions  in  1844-5,  according  to  the  ratio 
of  increase  during  the  previous  decades.  This 


94  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

addition  was  principally  observable  among 
the  agricultural  classes :  small  farmers,  cot- 
tiers, and  tillers  of  the  soil ;  for,  though  the 
masses  were  never  so  prosperous,  nor  better 
able  to  piu'chase  the  products  of  manufac- 
turers and  skilled  labor,  the  commerce  and 
trade  of  Ireland  were  slowly  but  steadily 
dying  out.  The  country  had,  however, 
been  blessed  wath  a  succession  of  rich 
harvests,  and  notwithstanding  that  a  large 
portion  of  the  receipts  of  the  sales,  calcu- 
lated at  from  twenty-five  millions  to  forty 
millions  of  dollars,  w^ere  annually  sent  to 
England  to  fill  the  purses  of  absentee 
landlords,  there  was  comparatively  very 
little  want  or  destitution.  About  eighty 
millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  farm  produce 
was  each  year  sent  across  the  Channel  to 
feed  the  operatives  of  England  and  Scot- 
land ;  still,  the  surplus,  at  home,  was 
sufficient  to  supply  the  necessities  of  the 
entire  population.  True,  the  food  of  two- 
thirds  of  the  people  was  scant  indeed,  and 
their  raiment  coarse  and  homespun,  but 
the}^  were  content — at  least  for  the  present 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  95 

— living  as  they  did  in  the  fond  hopes  of 
speedy  poHtical  amehoration. 

Crimes  of  all  descriptions  decreased  in 
inverse  ratio  to  the  augmentation  of  the 
population.  In  1841,  the  number  commit- 
ted was  9,287;  in  1842,  9,875;  in  1843, 
8.620 ;  in  1844,  8,042  ;  and  in  1845,  7.101  ; 
or  twenty-seven  per  cent,  decrease  in  four 
years.  The  number  of  capital  offences  perpe- 
trated show  seven  a  more  astonishing  fall- 
ing off.  In  1841,  there  were  sentenced  to 
death  40  persons  ;  in  1842,  25 ;  in  1843,  16  ; 
in  1844,  20 ;  and  in  1845,  but  13  ;  or  about 
sixty-eight  per  cent,  decrease  in  the  same 
period.  Of  transportable  infractions  of  the 
law  there  were,  in  1841,  643  cases ;  in  1842, 
667;  in  1843,  482;  in  1844,  526;  and  in 
1845,  but  428 ;  a  diminution  equal  to  thirty- 
six  per  cent,  in  four  years.  Perhaps  no 
country  in  Christendom  can  show  at  any 
period  of  her  existence  such  a  record  as  this. 
Certainly  not  in  these  days  of  modern 
progress  and  religious  decadence,  when 
even  our  own  newspapers  are  constantly 
filled  with  relations  of  crimes  of  every  dye 


96  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

and  degree  without  exciting  much  com- 
ment and  less  public  reprobation. 

Much  of  this  gratifying  improvement  was 
due  to  the  higher  tone  and  more  elevating 
sentiments  of  national  dignity,  constantly 
and  persistently  inculcated  by  the  writers 
of  the  Nation^  not  only  in  that  journal,  but  in 
their  other  literary  productions,  lectm-es, 
and  speeches,  as  well  as  the  example  of  the 
Repeal  reading-rooms,  mainly  established 
and  fostered  by  them.  More  credit  how- 
ever in  this  instance  is  to  be  awarded  to 
O'Connell,  who  was  perpetually  ringing  in 
the  ears  of  his  confiding  countr^naien  the 
great  political  dogma,  '^who  commits  a 
crime  gives  strength  to  the  enemy  "  ;  and  to 
the  Catholic  clergy,  who  were  never  tired  of 
denouncing  secret  agrarian  societies — the 
fruitful  source  of  many  outrages — and  of 
warnino:  their  conoreof-ations  ag-ainst  all 
attacks  on  life  or  property,  as  not  only 
against  religion  and  morality  but  as  un- 
worthy of  men  aspiring  to  be  free. 

But  the  good  genius  of  the  nation  at 
this  time   was    a  humble   Capuchin   friar. 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  97 

a  man  wlio  had  spent  t^Yenty  years  of  lils 
life  as  an  obscure  and  laborious  priest  in 
the  city  of  Cork,  and  whose  name  was 
known  to  but  few  outside  his  immediate 
neighborhood.  This  was  Father  Mathew. 
the  apostle  of  temperance,  without  whose 
potent  and  almost  miraculous  aid  the  efforts 
of  the  Young  Ireland  literati,  the  influence 
of  the  Liberator,  and  even  the  moral 
suasion  of  the  priesthood,  would  have  been 
weak  indeed.  Alluding  to  the  result  of 
Father  Mathew's  teachings  on  the  masses 
who  composed  the  monster  meetings,  his 
biographer,  the  late  John  F.  Maguire,  very 
justly  remarks : 

"  Though  taking  no  part  whatever  in  politics,  Father 
Mathew  was  still  proud  to  know  that  his  influence  was 
felt  in  the  political  agitation  of  the  day,  and  was 
thoroughly  appreciated  by  O'Connell,  for  this  reason — 
that  enormous  multitudes  of  people,  who  assembled 
at  the  call  of  the  political  leader,  were  held  in  perfect 
restraint  by  the  controlling  influence  of  the  moral 
leader ;  and  that  many  thousands  of  the  full-grown  pop- 
ulation of  Ireland  met  together,  in  various  places  and 
at  different  times,  in  all  seasons  and  under  all  circum- 
stances, and  that  no  instance  of  outrage  or  riot  ever 


98  THE  MEN* OF  '48. 

justified  the  interference  of  tlie  watchful  and  jealous 
authorities.  Large  bodies  of  men^  young  and  old,  came 
from  long"  di^ances  to  the  places  of  meeting,  and  re- 
turned to  their  homes  and  occupations  with  a  peaceable- 
ness  and  good  order  that  were  among  the  most  striking 
features  of  that  wondrous  political  agitation,  which 
seemed  to  rouse  the  whole  manhood  of  at  least  three 
provinces  of  the  kingdom.  If  O'Oonnell  were  able  to 
keep  in  check  an  excitable  and  ardent  people,  whom 
he  had  inflamed  to  the  highest  point,  by  visions  of 
future  prosperity  and  happiness,  of  glory ^nd  grandeur 
to  their  countrv,  as  the  result  of  that  lesfislative  inde- 
pendence  which  he  assured  them,  and  which  he  no  doubt 
at  the  time  believed,  they  could  obtain — it  was  through 
the  aid  of  Father  Mathew  that  he  did  so ;  for  though 
O'Oonnell  might  have  successfully  imposed  total  ab- 
stinence from  all  kinds  of  intoxicating  drink  upon  his 
countrymen  for  a  week,  or  for  a  month,  as  was  done 
during  the  Olare  election,  on  which  Oatholic  Emanci- 
pation mainly  turned,  it  would  have  been  impossible 
for  him  to  have  imposed  it  upon 'them  for  any  consider- 
able time.  And  had  he  to  deal  with  a  people  liable  to 
drunkenness  and  therefore  ripe  for  disorder  and  tumult, 
he  never  could  have  guided  his  followers  for  so  many 
years  within  the  narrow  paths  of  obedience  to  the  law, 
respeot  for  the  sacredness  of  property,  and  mideviating 
adhei'ence  to  the  doctrine  of  '  moral  force.^  It  was  to 
Father  Mathew  that  O'Oonnell  was  mainly  indebted 
for  the  peace  and  good  order  which  so  singularly  marked 
those  great  gatherings,  that  inspired  the  apprehension 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  99 

of  tbe  g-overnraent  of  the  day,  and  the  wonder  of  those 
who  regarded  them  with  the  interest  or  the  curiosity  of 
strajigers.  Independently,  then,  of  the  good  which 
temperance  conferred  on  the  people  in  their  individual 
capacity,  and  of  the  greater  industry  and  higher  moral- 
ity which  it  promoted,  O'Oonnell  cherished  it  as  a 
means  to  his  own  ends — the  accomplishment  of  the 
object  which  required  a  thoroughly  obedient  and  docile 
})eo[)le  to  lead.  And  only  in  a  countr}^  elevated  and 
purified  by  Father  Mathew's  preaching,  could  the  polit- 
ical tribune  have  found  that  thoroughly  obedient  and 
docile  people." 

This  extraordinaiy  self-denial  on  the  part 
of  the  people  was  an  argument  stronger  than 
any  other  that  could  have  been  advanced 
in  favQr  of  their  right  and  ability  to  govern 
themselves.  Wlien  we  consider  that  the 
Irish  are  eminently  a  social  and  proverbially 
a  hospitable  race,  we  can  well  appreciate 
the  sacrifices  they  made  at  this  epoch  in  order 
that  their  grand  uprising  should  not  be 
stained  by  any  act  that  might  lessen  its 
dignity  and  significance.  Besides,  it  must 
be  remembered  that  to  them  the  'Svorld 
was  not  their  friend,  nor  the  world's  law  ;  " 
at  least  English  law,  and  that  any  breach  of  it, 


100  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

when  not  necessarily  involving  an  infraction 
of  the  moral  code,  has  ever  been  considered, 
and  with  good  reason,  not  only  not  blam- 
able,  but,  in  many  instances,  highly  meri- 
torious. Law,  so-called  in  Ireland,  is  not 
made  by  or  for  the  Irish  people ;  it  is  not 
their  protector,  but  the  insidious  enemy,  and 
instead  of  being  their  sword  and  buckler 
against  wrong  and  evil-doers,  it  is  simply 
and  absolutely  an  engine  of  oppression,  a 
badge  of  servitude,  and  a  token  of  national 
humiliation.  Still  the  people  obeyed  it,  not 
from  any  respect  for  the  alien  authority  which 
framed  it,  nor  evenfromfear  of  consequences, 
but  from  the  fixed  hope  that  the  day  was 
not  far  distant  when  in  then'  own  legislature 
they  could  enact  statutes  embodying  equal 
justice  and  equity  for  all. 

O'Connell  and  his  companions  counselled 
this  moderation  and  love  of  order,  as  much 
from  political  motives  as  from  anything  else ; 
Father  Mathew,  who  was  not  mixed  up  in 
politics,  but  who  as  we  have  seen  was  a  most 
efficient  ally  of  the  Repealers,  took  higher 
moral  grounds.     He  was  a  most  singular 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  101 

man,  and  the  conversion  of  his  countrymen 
to  the  cause  of  temperance  will  long  re- 
main a  chapter  in  history  to  astonish  and 
encourao'e  other  zealous  reformers.  '^  Actu- 
ated  by  motives  as  inspiring,"  said  Cardinal 
Wiseman  in  his  consecration  sermon  at  St. 
Andrew's,  Dublin,  "a  humble  son  of  St. 
Francis  has  travelled  your  land,  preaching 
against  a  vice  which  was  the  greatest  bane 
of  your  domestic  happiness  and  spiritual 
welfare ;  calling  upon  you  to  take  up  the 
cross  of  the  Church  and  place  it  in  your 
hearts,  and  not  on  your  garments.  How 
has  this  mission  succeeded,  and  how  was 
that  call  obeyed  ?  It  has  been  obeyed  be- 
yond all  human  calculation ;  and  the  adhe- 
sion, not  of  thousands,  but  of  millions,  has 
proved  the  authority  that  sanctioned  it. 
Has  God  not  thus  extended  His  blessing 
even  to  the  most  despised  among  you  ? " 

This  is  but  one  instance  of  the  many 
eulogiums  bestowed  on  the  great  temper- 
ance leader  by  the  highest  in  position  and 
the  most  distinguished  in  morals,  in  both 
hemispheres.     Born  in  Thomastown  on  the 


102  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

lOtli  of  October,  1790,  he  was  old  enough 
to  recollect  the  disastrous  issue  of  the  re- 
bellion of  '98,  and  the  disgraceful  scenes 
which'  occurred  in  Ross,  where  the  gallant 
Wexford  men  threw  away  the  fruits  of  vic- 
tory, and,  perhaps,  at  the  same  time  the 
freedom  of  their  coimtry,  by  the  indulgence 
of  their  passion  for  drink.  Of  an  old  and 
respectable  family,  his  early  training  at 
school  was  as  good  as  the  times  permitted 
to  the  children  of  the  persecuted;  at  home 
his  moral  tuition  was  such  as  an  intelli- 
gent father  and  a  loving  mother  would  wish 
for  their  offspring.  When  about  seventeen 
years  of  age  he  was  sent  to  Maynooth 
College,  but  he  did  not  remain  there  long, 
having  little  appreciation  of  the  discipline 
then  prevailing  in  that  institution.  In  1 8 1 4, 
having  joined  the  Capuchins,  the  most  hum- 
ble and  least  influential  order  in  the  country, 
and  after  studying  under  the  Very  Rev. 
C.  Corcoran,  he  was  ordained,  and  assigned 
to  the  Kilkenny  mission  ;  but  was  soon  after 
transferred  to  Cork.  Here  he  labored  for 
many  years  with  all  his  might,  among  the 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  103 

very  lowest  class  of  that  "sw(et  city,"  the 
very  outcasts  of  society ,  male  andfemale,  and 
the  good  results  of  his  toil  were  in  proportion 
to  his  remarkable  zeal  and  perseverance. 
Few  ecclesiastics  of  our  time  performed  so 
many  distinct  duties  and  with  so  much  good 
effect  as  did  this  lowly  friar,  whose  life 
seems  to  have  been  spent  on  a  determined 
plan,  and  to  whom  every  moment  brought 
some  task  to  be  executed,  some  special 
work  to  be  carried  out. 

When,  therefore,  he  espoused  the  temper- 
ance cause  in  April,  1838,  he  was  but  adding 
another  labor  to  the  measure  of  his  duties 
already  full ;  but  it  was  a  work  of  such 
magnitude  and  comprehensiveness  that  it 
gradually  absorbed  all  others,  except  those 
specially  pertaining  to  his  sacred  office. 
Strange  to  say,  his  first  co-laborers  were  an 
Episcopal  clergyman,  a  Unitarian*,  and 
a  Quaker,  a  strong  evidence,  if  any  were 
wanted,  of  the  cosmopolitan  character  of 
his  new  mission. 

The  first  ^ve  or  six  years  of  his  labors 
were  devoted  to  root  out  the  vice  of  intem- 


104  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

perance  in  his  native  country,  and  how 
great  was  his  success,  many  yet  Hving  can 
joyfully  attest.  For  every  year  of  that 
period  he  could  average  a  million  converts 
to  teetotalism,  and  as  a  consequence  the 
character  of  the  country  rose  so  high  as  to 
become  the  admiration  of  all,  and  the  special 
theme  of  praise  with  European  and  Ameri- 
can statesmen  and  moralists. 

Though  warmly  attached  to  his  native 
land  he  did  not  meddle  directly  with  the 
repeal  movement,  lest  by  so  doing  he 
might  give  a  political  or  partisan  complex- 
ion to  an  undertaking  which  was  designed 
to  benefit  all  classes,  creeds,  and  parties 
alike.  He  admired  O'Connell,  fully  appre- 
ciated his  genius,  and  was  glad  when  he 
joined  the  temperance  ranks,  but  when 
that  indefatigable  leader,  as  Lord  Mayor  of 
Dublin,  somewhat  ostentatiously  proposed 
to  join  the  great  procession  at  Cork  in  1842, 
he  met  with  little  encouragement  from  him. 
*' If  Father  Mathew  could,  "says  Maguire, 
himself  a  repealer,  "  by  any  possibiHty,  or 
on  any  pretence,  have  adjourned  the  pro- 


THE  MEN  OF  M8.  105 

cession,  or  got  rid  of  it  altogether,  he  cer- 
tainly would  have  done  so;  but  Easter 
Monday  was  the  day  specially  devoted  to 
such  demonstrations,  and  the  temperance 
societies,  throughout  an  extensive  district 
of  the  country,  had  already  made  their 
preparations  for  taking  part  in  it.  There 
was  no  help  for  it  now,  and  therefore  the 
best  thing  that  could  be  done  was  to  put 
a  good  face  on  the  matter ;  which  he  ac- 
cordingly did." 

For  the  ^^  Young  Ireland"  party,  as  they 
then  were,  and  for  several  years  after  up  to 
the  beginning  of  1848,  he  had  sincere  esteem, 
and  for  many  of  the  individual  members  a 
lasting,  warm,  and  paternal  affection.  He 
admired  their  ardor,  honesty,  and  nobleness 
of  purpose ;  he  was  fond  of  reading  and 
quoting  their  soul- stirring  poesy  and  bril- 
liant speeches,  and,  until  the  horrors  of  the 
famine  and  the  glare  of  the  French  revolu- 
tion of  February  '48  had  driven  many  of 
the  leaders  to  premature  attempts  at  revolt, 
he  was  in  full  sympathy  with  their  aims 
and  policy.     Even  after  their  failure,  and 


106  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

when  some  were  in  the  penal  settlements  of 
Australia,  and  others  in  exile  in  this  country, 
he  was  wont  to  speak  of  them  in  terms  of 
the  highest  regard,  and  to  mourn  over  the 
infatuation  which  seduced  them  from  the 
path  of  duty  into  the  hazy  wilderness  of 
revolution. 

In  the  Nation  and  its  able  corps  of  writers 
he  recognized  most  valuable  auxiliaries,  not 
only  from  their  elevated  tone  and  wide  pop- 
ularity, but  because  they  were,  with  few  ex- 
ceptions, practical  belie  vers  in  his  teachings. 
He  in  turn  reacted  upon  them,  for  the  men 
he  drew  away  from  the  allm-ements  of  the 
public  house  and  the  ''wake"  soon  discov- 
ered the  necessity  of  other  and  less  delete- 
rious amusements,  and  found  them  in  the 
reading-rooms  or  by  their  own  peaceful 
firesides.  Thus,  as  the  temperance  cause 
was  advanced,  education  became  more 
thorough  and  general,  and  the  number  of 
readers  of  good  national  literature  corre- 
spondingly increased.  This  was  the  end  for 
which  the  Nations  contributors  strove,  and 
while    the    Apostle   of    Temperance    was 


THE  MEN  OF  '4a  107 

spreading  the  blessings  of  sobriety,  and  its 
attributes,  peace,  health,  and  mental  clarity, 
they  were  supplying  the  intellectual  food 
which  was  to  nourish  and  complete  liis  moral 
revolution.  In  one  thing  both  thoroughly 
agreed:  that  no  people  ever  rose  to  true 
greatness,  or  recovered  their  freedom,  who 
were  unable  to  control  their  passions  and 
subordinate  their  individual  caprices  to  the 
general  good. 

AVhile  Father  Mathew  divided  the  affec- 
tions and  confidence  of  the  Irish  with  O'Con- 
nell,  without  being  either  his  opponent  or 
his  rival,  but  for  all  useful  purposes  his 
efficient  ally,  the  political  leader  enter- 
tained and  expressed  for  liim,  on  more  than 
one  occasion,  the  most  unbounded  respect 
and  reverence.  A  meeting  held  in  Dublin 
in  January,  1843,  which  was  attended  by 
four  bishops,  some  eighty  noblemen,  mem- 
bers of  parliament,  etc.,  afforded  O'Connell 
an  ample  opportunity  of  giving  vent  to  those 
feelings  so  creditable  to  both  parties.  When 
the  resolutions  intended  for  adoption  were 
submitted  to  him  for  criticism  he  censured 


1 08  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

them  as  '^  tame  and  unworthy  of  the  object." 
Snatching  up  a  pen,  he  altered  the  first 
resolution  by  adding  to  the  phrase,  which 
declared  Father  Mathew  "  entitled  to  the 
nation's  gratitude,"  the  words,  "  beyond  all 
li\dng  men."  ''What!  beyond  all  living 
men,  eh?"  exclaimed  a by-stander ;  "is  not 
that  too  strong  ?  "  "  Not  in  the  least,"  said 
O'Connell  emphatically ;  "  it  is  literally 
true."  At  the  public  meeting,  held  to  pre- 
sent a  fitting  testimonial  to  the  good  friar, 
he  amplified  this  opinion  with  his  usual 
power  and  wealth  of  words.  Among  other 
things  he  said : 

"  The  name  of  the  Reverend  Theobald  Mathew  is  in 
fact  a  spell- word.  It  proclaims  in  itself  the  progress  of 
temperance,  morality,  prudence,  and  every  other  social 
vivtue  in  the  land.  I  have,  as  I  have  already  said,  come 
here  not  to  make  a  speech,  but  to  bear  my  testimony  to  his 
indescribable  merits.  I  could  not  stay  away  from  such 
an  assemblage  as  this  j  for  though  I  feel  how  little 
importance  my  attendance  here  could  be,  still  I  owed  it 
to  mvself  to  share  in  the  testimonv  of  the  miMitv  moral 
miracle  that  has  been  performed,  and  to  raise  ray  humble 
voice  in  the  declaration  of  my  sentiments  of  admiration 
at  his  utility  as  a  man  and  his  virtues  as  a  clergyman, 
by  joining  in  this  demonstration  of  the  gratitude  of  his 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  109 

country  toward  liim  .  .  .  .  Having  said  so  much,  I 
ought  to  retire,  for  I  feel  this — that  it  is  not  in  language 
to  describe,  and  that  there  is  not  rapidity  in  human 
speech  to  follow  the  brilliancy  of  his  career.  There 
can  be  no  wings  given  to  words,  to  enable  them  to  rise 
to  his  moral  exaltation.  You  might  as  well  think  of 
looking  the  noonday  sun  in  face,  without  injuring  the 
vision,  as  to  place  the  merits  of  Father  Mathew  in  a 
clearer  point  of  view  than  they  at  present  exist.  No, 
and  if  w^itnesses  are  wanting  of  his  utility  I  call  on  four 
millions  of  teetotallers  to  come  forward  with  their 
testimony. " 

On  tlie  same  occasion  O'Brien,  though  not 
yet  a  pronounced  nationalist,  dehvered  a 
dignified  and  hearty  eulogium  on  the  labors 
of  Father  Mathew,  on  behalf  of  the  county 
he  represented  in  parliament,  which  he  as- 
serted was  benefited  much  more  than  any 
other  by  his  teachings.  "  Whatever  it  shall 
be,"  he  said,  in  alluding  to  the  proposed 
testimonial,  '^  will  be  best  determined  by  the 
committee ;  but  of  this  he  was  quite  sure, 
that  they  could  not  erect  any  testimony  so 
acceptable  to  him,  or  so  glorious  in  its  results, 
as  an  inviolate  fidelity  to  the  solemn  en- 
gagement entered  into  by  the  great  mass  of 
the  nation  to  the  good  man."     Years  after- 


110  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

wards,  when  the  iUustrious  advocate  of  tem- 
perance had  closed,  amid  pam  and  suffermg, 
his  long  and  most  useful  life;  and  when 
William  Smith  O'Brien  had  retm-ned  from 
his  convict  home  in  Van  Diemen's  Land,  he 
took  up  his  pen  to  express,  in  part  at  least, 
his  poignant  sorrow  for  the  loss  of  his  great 
and  beneficent  friend.     He  wrote  : 

"  For  myself,  whether  he  be  or  be  not  canonized 
as  a  saint  by  the  Church  of  Rome,  I  am  disposed,  to 
regard  him  as  an  Apostle  who  was  specially  deputed 
on  a  divine  mission  by  the  Almighty,  and  invested  with 
power  almost  miraculous.  To  none  of  the  ordinary 
operations  of  human  agency  can  I  ascribe  the  success 
which  attended  his  effoits  to  suppress  one  of  the  beset- 
tinsT  sins  of  the  Irish  nation.  If  I  had  read  in  history 
that  such  success  had  attended  the  labors  of  an  unpre- 
tending priest  whose  chief  characteristic  was  modest 
simplicity  of  demeanor,  I  own  that  I  should  have 
distrusted  the  narrative  as  an  exaggeration ;  but  we 
have  been  all  of  us  witnesses  to  the  fact  that  myriads 
simultaneously  obeyed  his  advice,  and,  at  his  bidding, 
abandoned  a  favorite  indulgence." 

There  is  no  mistaking  the  sincerity  of  this 
praise  nor  of  its  entire  truthfulness ;  and, 
coming  as  it  does  from  a  gentleman  who  was 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  Ill 

ever  chary  of  liis  applause,  a  strict,  though 
liberal-minded  Protestant,  wliose  love  of  his 
kind  led  him  even  under  the  shadow  of  the 
scaffold,  it  may  be  considered  one  of  the 
most  appropriate  epitaphs  that  ever  graced 
the  tomb  of  saint  or  philantln-opist. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Symptoms  of  division  in  the  Repeal  Association — Chari- 
table Bequests  bill — Federalism  advocated  by  O'Connell 
— Denounced  by  the  "Nation"  and  O'Neil  Daunt — 
English  Intrigues  at  Rome — The  Papal  Rescript — Finan- 
cial reforms  proposed — Formation  of  the  '82  Club. — 
The  Queen's  Colleges  bill — The  Irish  hierarchy  on  edu- 
cation. 

From  the  day  of  O'Connell's  liberation 
from  Richmond  bridewell,  a  change  in  his 
policy  was  observed  by  many  who  knew 
him  intimately  and  whose  affection  and  re- 
spect for  his  person  and  great  services  could 
not  blind  them  to  the  sad  fact  that  he  was 
no  longer  the  same  fiery,  indefatigable 
agitator,  the  magnetic  orator  whose  voice 
could  call  millions  around  him  and  sway 
them  as  he  listed*  by  the  magic  of  his  elo- 
quence. Some  attributed  the  transfor- 
mation to  decaying  health  and  advancing 
age — he  only  lacked  two  years  of  the 
ordinary  term  allotted  to  men — others  sus- 
pected that  the  repeal  movement  had  ad- 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  113 

vanced  as  far  as  peaceable  agitation  could 
go,  and  that  either  the  legitimate  demands 
of  the  people  sliould  be  supported  by  armed 
men,  as  in  1782,  or  that  a  backward  step, 
fatal  to  all  revolutions,  political  and  moral, 
should  be  taken.  The  second  alternative 
seemed  the  better  to  O'Connell. 

In  accordance  with  this  view,  the  great 
leader,  it  is  said,  upon  tolerably  good  au- 
thority, proposed  in  a  secret  session  of  the 
committee  that  the  Association  should  be 
dissolved,  and  another,  under  a  different 
name  and  with  what  was  called  by  some 
the  ''  illegal  features  "  of  the  old  one  stricken 
out ;  or,  in  other  w^ords,  to  eliminate  from 
the  Repeal  platform  every  statement  of 
principle  that  might  give  offence  or  alarm 
to  the  English  government.  This,  it  will  be 
remembered,  was  a  favorite  ruse  of  O'Con- 
nell during  the  emancipation  excitement, 
and  was  generally  successful,  but  times  and 
circumstances  were  now  greatly  changed. 
Then  it  was  the  organizations  that  were 
alleged  to  be  unlawful  per  se ;  but  the  re- 
peal  leaders  had  not  been  indicted,  tried, 


114  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

and  convicted  of  crime  because  they  belonged 
to  an  illegal  body,  but  on  account  of  attend- 
ing certain  meetings  and'  using  language 
which,  it  was  asserted,  was  "  seditious."  Be- 
sides, such  a  change  of  base  at  so  critical  a 
juncture  would  be  a  confession  of  defeat,  a 
victory  for  the  common  enemy,  and  a  source 
of  dissatisfaction  among  the  people.  Such 
at  least  were  the  views  of  Mr.  O'Brien  and 
the  other  members  of  the  committee  who 
affiliated  with  the  Young  Irelanders.  They 
protested  against  such  a  course  as  false, 
craven,  and  fatal.  Mr.  O'Connell,  at  length 
seeing  how  distasteful  the  proposed  change 
was  to  so  influential  a  portion  of  the  com- 
mittee, abandoned  it  for  the  time,  though 
it  is  not  probable  that  he  ever  forgot  or 
completely  forgave  this  first  act  of  insubor- 
dination to  his  wishes,  which  heretofore 
had  been  unquestioned. 

The  next  cause  of  discord  among  the 
Nationalists  appeared  in  a  quarter  from  which 
it  was  least  expected — amongst  the  Hie- 
rarchy. In  August,  1844,  against  the  most 
earnest  remonstrances  of  priests  and  people 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  115 

was  passed  tlie  Charitable  Bequests  act.  By 
the  provisions  of  this  statute  no  charitable  be- 
quest made  for  a  Catholic  purpose  was  valid 
unless  devised  six  months  before  the  death 
of  the  testator,  and  singular  enough  tlu'ee 
bishops  were  selected  to  administer  this  law, 
and  accepted  the  trust,  though  the  Catholics 
of  the  country  almost  unanimously  looked 
upon  the  act  with  aversion  as  an  insult 
to  their  clergy,  an  imputation  on  their 
character,  and  an  insidious  attempt  on  the 
liberties  of  the  entire  Catholic  body.  The 
Repeal  Association  opposed  the  measure  on 
these  grounds ;  the  Nation  denounced  it  with 
its  usual  force  and  energy,  and  the  prelates 
themselves  in  convocation  were  divided  as 
to  the  propriety  of  any  of  their  number 
acting  as  commissioners.  Of  the  proceed- 
ings of  this  meeting,  the  Right  Rev.  Dr. 
Cantwell  shortly  after  wrote  to  O'Connell 
the  following  account : 

"  Tlie  resolution  did  not  meet  the  approval  of  all  the 
bishops,  neither  did  it  convey  to  any  one  of  the  Episcopal 
commissioners  the  most  distant  notion  tliat  in  accepting 
the  office  he  did  not  oppose  the  views  and  wishes  of 


116  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

many  of  his  Episcopal  brethren.  When  the  resolution 
was  moved^  there  were  six  of  the  protesting  bishops 
absent,  and  a  moment  was  not  allowed  to  pass,  after  it 
was  seconded;  when  it  was  denounced  in  the  strongest 
manner  by  two  of  the  bishops  present.  They  solemnly 
declared  before  the  assembled  prelates  that  in  the 
event  of  any  prelate  accepting  the  odious  office,  they 
would  never  willingly  hold  any  communication  with  him 
in  his  capacity  of  commissioner." 

Then  came  O'Connell's  sudden  and  inex- 
plicable conversion  to  Federalism,  involving 
of  course  the  abandonment  of  the  absolute 
repeal  of  the  Union,  and  the  obliteration  of 
all  the  promises,  vows,  and  pledges  of  the 
previous  ^ve  years.  There  was,  it  seems,  a 
small  knot  of  Federalists  in  the  north, 
composed  of  such  men  as  Grey  Porter,  Ross, 
Crawford,  and  Caulfield,  acting,  it  was  gen- 
erally supposed,  on  the  inspiration  of  the 
Lord  Lieutenant,  Heytesbury,  who  had  ad- 
dressed the  Liberator  on  this  subject  and 
found  him  more  pliant  than  they  had  hoped. 
He  even  went  so  far  as  to  write  from  his 
retirement  at  Derrynane  a  public  letter 
contrasting  the  benefits  to  be  expected  from 
Repeal  and  from  Federalism    respectively, 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  117 

and  giving  his  preference  to  tlie  latter.  As 
his  views  were  very  similar  to  those  of  the 
present  '' Home  Kule"  movement,  we  give 
the  following  extracts  from  this  peculiar 
epistle  : 

"  The  Simple  Repealers  are  of  the  opinion  that  the 
reconstructed  Irish  parliament  should  have  precisely  the 
same  power  and  authority  wliich  the  former  Irish  par- 
liament had. 

"  The  Federalists,  on  the  contrary,  appear  to  me  to 
require  more  for  the  people  of  Ireland  than  the  Simple 
Repealers  do  3  for,  besides  the  local  parliament  in 
Ireland,  having  full  and  perfect  authority,  the  Fed- 
eralists require  that  there  should  be,  for  questions  of 
imperial  concern,  colonial,  naval,  and  military,  and 
for  foreign  alliance  and  policy,  a  Congressional  or 
Federal  Parliament,  in  which  Ireland  should  have  her 
fair  share  and  proportion  of  representatives  and  power. 

"  It  is  but  just  and  right  to  confess  that  in  this  respect 
the  Federalists  would  give  Ireland  more  weight  and 
importance  in  imperial  concerns  than  she  could  acquire 
by  means  of  the  plan  of  Simple  Repealers. 

''For  my  own  part,  I  will  own  that  since  I  have 
come  to  contemplate  the  specific  differences,  such  as  they 
are,  between  Simple  Repeal  and  Federalism,  I  do  at 
present  feel  a  preference  for  the  Federative  plan,  as 
tending  more  to  the  utility  of  Ireland  and  the  main- 
tenance of  the  connection  with  England,  than  the  plan 
of   Simple  Repeal.  .  .  .     The  Federalists  cannot  but 


118  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

perceive  that  there  has  been  upon  my  part  a  pause  in 
the  agitation  for  Repeal  since  the  period  of  our  release 
frotti  unjust  imprisonment." 

The  last  two  sentences  of  this  document 
if  nothing  else,  would  have  excited  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Nationalists  a  strono^  feelinof 
of  dissatisfaction  and  regret.  They  did  not 
care  to  maintain  any  closer  connection  with 
their  despoiler,  England.  They  thought 
it  was  close  enough  already,  and  whether 
they  would  encourage  any  connection  at 
all  with  her,  should  a  fair  opportunity  offer 
for  dissolving  it  altogether,  would  depend 
on  the  good  behavior  of  Great  Britain  and 
the  demands  of  true  Irish  state  policy. 
They  had  indeed  noticed  that  there  had 
been  "  a  pause  in  the  agitation  for  repeal," 
but  had  kept  their  sad  forebodings  to  them- 
selves lest  they  might  have  been  accused 
of  trying  to  sow  seeds  of  dissension,  but 
now  that  it  had  been  openly  announced, 
they  felt  hui-t  and  irritated  beyond  measure. 

^*  I  felt  it  my  duty,  "  says  O'Neil  Daunt, 
his  most  intimate  friend  and  enthusiastic 
admirer,  ^'to  write  to  O'Connell  on  the  sub- 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  119. 

ject  of  his  recent  manifesto.  I  did  not  keep 
a  copy  of  my  letter,  but  I  recollect  its  sub- 
stance. I  stated  the  general  dissatisfaction 
excited  by  his  advocacy  of  Federalism.  I 
reminded  him  that  I  was  publicly  committed 
to  '  Simple  Repeal.'  I  told  him  that  no  man 
was  less  disposed  than  I  was  to  create  dis- 
cord in  our  ranks  by  expressing  dissent  from 
the  movements  of  the  leader,  but  that  for 
the  sake  of  consistency  I  was  desirous  to 
exonerate  myself  from  any  predilection  for 
Federalism.  I  concluded  by  announcing  my 
purpose  to  repeat  at  our  next  day's  meet- 
ing my  former  profession  of  faith  on  the 
point  in  dispute ;  and,  at  the  same  time  to 
vindicate  him  from  the  unjust  imputation 
of  intending  to  surrender  any  portion  of  his 
claim  for  Irish  constitutional  liberty  !  ^  Do 
not  enter  into  any  vindication  of  me,'  wrote 
O'Connell  in  reply.  '  Leave  every  miscon- 
ception afloat  until  I  reach  the  Association. 
We  are  on  the  eve  of  knowing  whether  or 
not  the  Federalists  will  make  a  public  dis- 
play. If  they  do  not  do  so  within  a  week 
I  shall   again  address  the  people — not  to 


120  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

vindicate  or  excuse,  but  to  boast  of  tlie  offer 
I  have  made  and  the  spirit  of  concihation 
we  have  evinced.' " 

This  was  weak  reasoning  for  so  great  a 
mind,  and,  while  it  may  have  satisfied  a  few, 
it  alienated  tens  of  thousands  of  the  best 
men  in  the  land.  The  pause  of  surprise  and 
sorrow  which  followed  O'Connell's  letter  of 
October  2d,  was  interrupted  by  the  ap- 
pearance of  one  in  reply  from  Charles 
Gavan  Duffy.  It  was  a  production  worthy 
of  the  distinguished  editor  of  the  Nation; 
full  of  profound  thought,  clear  statements, 
admu'ably  logical  in  its  conclusions,  and 
replete  with  plain,  broad  arguments  which 
can'ied  conviction  with  them  even  to  the 
most  mediocre  understanding.  It  was  now 
the  Liberator's  turn  to  be  surprised.  Here- 
tofore his  sway,  though  consistent  and  bene- 
ficial, had  been  despotic.  His  system  of 
politics  was  thoroughly  personal,  but  now 
he  became  perfectly  aware  of  the  fact  that 
he  was  living  in  a  generation  far  different 
from  that  of  the  pre-Emancipation  period, 
and  that  he  no  longer  could  control  the  in- 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  121 

telligent  masses  of  the  nation  except  by 
recognizing  their  right  to  a  voice  and  an 
influence  in  the  aff'airs  of  their  common 
country.  He  found  that  though  he  might 
himself  prefer  to  the  soHd  advantages  of  a 
repeal  of  the  Union  the  delusive  promises 
of  the  Federalists,  and  be  willing  to  suspend 
for  a  time,  or  for  all  time,  the  agitation  for 
a  domestic  parliament,  others  would  not  do 
so  unless  well  convinced  of  the  wisdom  of 
the  change.  '^  Among  the  great  party  to 
whom  he  appealed,"  says  a  former  promi- 
nent repealer,  ''not  one  voice  was  heard  to 
suggest  a  practical  step  in  the  direction 
intimated.  The  project  fell,  if  indeed  it 
were  ever  seriously  entertained,  leaving  no 
memory  and  no  regret." 

It  had,  however,  a  very  disastrous  effect 
upon  the  harmony  of  the  nation's  councils. 
It  lessened  the  good  feeling  that  had  hither- 
to prevailed  in  the  committee,  and  strength- 
ened the  popular  belief  that  O'Connell  was 
never  sincere  in  his  promises  of  repeal.  But 
though  we  are  not  inclined  to  coincide  in 
this  view,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  his  hasty 


122  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

adherence  to  Federalism,  and  the  equally 
sudden  abandonment  of  it,  greatly  impaired 
his  influence  and,  in  proportion,  increased 
that  of  the  Young  Irelanders. 

These  were  some  of  Peel's  intrigues  to 
disrupt  the  Association,  and  were  so  far 
successful ;  but  more  were  to  follow.  The 
English  ministry  had  been  acting  as  a  spy 
for  the  Italian  governments  on  their  refractory 
refugee  subjects  in  Malta  and  elsewhere,  and 
even,  by  opening  their  letters  while  in  tran- 
situ, had  obtained  valuable  information 
which,  with  the  true  breeding  of  detectives, 
they  were  willing  to  sell  for  a  consideration. 
Some  were  disposed  of  to  the  King  of  Naples, 
and  another  part  was  communicated  to  the 
coui't  of  Rome,  the  reward  in  the  latter  case 
no  doubt,  being  the  expected  interference 
of  the  Vatican  in  the  repeal  movement.  A 
certain  recreant  English  Catholic  named 
Petrie  was  the  secret  agent  of  the  govern- 
ment at  Rome,  and  with  that  mendacity 
which  generally  characterizes  an  English- 
man, when  speaking  on  Irish  affairs,  he  pre- 
sented  the   grossest   fabrications    and  pu^ 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  123 

foi'ward  the  basest  falsehoods  against  tlie 
Irish  priests  and  hierarchy.  Partially  mis- 
led by  the  representations  of  this  un- 
scrupulous emissary,  as  well  as  from  a 
natural  sense  of  gratitude  for  English  inter- 
vention against  the  enemies  of  the  Papal 
States,  the  Sacred  College  issued  a  Rescript 
forbidding  the  Irish  clergy  to  take  a  promi- 
nent or  violent  part  in  the  repeal  agitation. 
The  receipt  of  this  document  at  first,  and 
until  its  real  spirit  and  contents  were  under- 
stood, created  much  disorder  in  the  national 
ranks.  O'Connell  denounced  it  as  ^^unca- 
nonical."  In  the  Association,  O'Neil  Daunt, 
who,  in  the  absence  of  the  leader  was  sup- 
posed to  express  his  views,  said : 

^*  Assuming  tliat  this  rescript  is  an  injunction  to  the 
Irish  clergy  to  abstain  from  Repeal  agitation,  what  does 
it  amount  to  ?  It  amounts  to  a  call  upon  a  portion  of 
the  Queen's  Irish  subjects  to  abdicate  partially  their 
rights  as  Irish  citizens.  Is  this,  or  is  it  not,  a  direct  in- 
terference with  their  civil  rights'?  If  so,  will  those  to 
whom  it  is  addressed  obey  it  1  Just  look  at  the  posi- 
tion in  which  they  would  be  placed  by  such  obedience. 
All  their  lives  they  have  been  charored  bv  their  enemies 
with  holding  a  divided  allegiance.     Now  here  is  the  test 


124  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

— here  is  the  touchstone.  If  they  obey  the  Papal  man- 
date upon  a  matter  purely  temporal — then,  by  their  own 
act,  they  will  confirm  the  charge  of  divided  allegiance, 
against  which  they  have  been  loudly  protesting  ever 
since  the  very  outset  of  the  struggle  for  Emancipation. 
The  criminal  inconsistency  of  the  government  in 
making  people  swear  that  the  Pope  hath  no  temporal 
power  in  the  queen's  dominions,  and  yet  manoeuvring  to 
get  his  Holiness  to  exercise  temporal  power  against 
Irish  freedom,  is  obvious  to  all.  But  we,  the  Repeal- 
ers of  Ireland,  are  the  sworn  foes  of  all  foreign  dicta- 
tion in  Irish  domestic  affairs.  As  much  theolos^v  from 
Rome  as  you  please,  but  no  politics.'*' 

When  O'Connell  was  afterwards  asked  if 
he  did  not  think  this  was  going  too  far,  he 
answered :  ''  Not  in  the  least.  Recollect, 
my  good  friend,  that  what  Daunt  says,  we 
have  already  solemnly  sworn."  But  though 
he  had  publicly  pronounced  the  order 
uncanonical  he  was  soon  forced  to  admit 
and  apologize  for  his  mistake.  The  Most 
Rev.  Dr.  Crolly  addressed  him  a  letter 
on  the  11th  of  January,  1845,  in  which  he 
says  :  *'  T  was  surprised  and  sorry  to  find 
that  you  had  ventured  to  assert  that  a  letter 
sent  to  me  some  time  past,  from  the  Propa- 
ganda,   was    not   a   canonical   document." 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  125 

And  lest  there  should  be  any  doubt  about 
its  character  the  primate  appended  a  copy 
of  the  resolution  regarding  it,  passed  by  the 
assembled  bishops.     It  was  as  follows  : 

"Moved  by  tlie  Rt.  Rev.  Dr.  Brown  of  Elpliin  and 
seconded   by  the  Rt.   Rev.  Dr.  McNally  of  Clogber. 

"  Hesolved,  That  the  most  Reverend  Doctor  Crolly 
be  requested  to  reply  to  the  letter  received  from  the 
Holy  Father,  stating  that  the  instnictions  therein  con- 
tained have  been  received  by  the  assembled  prelates  of 
Ireland  with  that  degree  of  profound  respect,  obedience, 
and  veneration  that  should  ever  be  paid  to  any  docu- 
ment emanating  from  the  Apostolic  See,  and  that  they 
all  pledge  themselves  to  carry  the  spirit  thereof  into 
effect." 

The  English  and  the  anti-Irish  press 
hailed  the  Rescript  as  the  death-blow  of 
Eepeal,  and  trumpeted  forth  the  above 
resolution  as  the  dividing  wedge  between 
the  priesthood  and  the  people — a  consum- 
mation, from  their  stand-point,  most  de- 
voutly to  be  wished.  Not  so,  however,  did 
the  great  majority  of  the  patriotic  prelates 
and  priests  so  understand  it.  ^^The  Cardi- 
nal only  censures  violent  and  intemperate 
language,"  wrote  Dr.  Cantwell,  ^'in  either 


126  THE  IklEN  OP  '48. 

priests  or  bishops,  whether  they  address  their 
flocks  in  their  temples,  or  mix  with  their 
fellow-countrymen  in  banquets  or  public 
meetings.  We  [the  prelates]  inferred,  and 
I  think  we  were  justified  in  the  inference, 
that  conduct  and  language  at  all  times  un- 
becoming our  sacred  character,  and  not  our 
presence  on  such  legitimate  occasions,  were 
the  object  of  this  salutary  caution." 

This  was  also  the  interpretation  placed 
on  it  by  the  Nationalists.  In  Conciliation 
Hall,  Thomas  McNevin,  a  gifted  young 
Catholic  lawyer,  went  even  farther,  and  his 
words  were  received  with  great  applause. 
^'  We  are  informed,  "  he  said,  "  that  there  is 
an  English  emissary — shall  I  say  spy — at 
Eome.  Is  his  the  discretion  which  guides 
the  Cardinal  Prefect  of  the  Propaganda  ?  Do 
not  suppose  for  a  moment  that  I  question  the 
supremacy  of  the  Pope  in  spiritual  matters. 
Surely  nothing  is  farther  from  my  mind ; 
but,  sir,  I  do  question  his  right  to  dictate  to 
an  Irish  clergyman  the  degree  of  prominence 
or  prudence  with  which  he  shall  serve  his 
country.     I  hope   I   am  not  irreverent  in 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  127 

doing  so.  I  shall  continue  to  hold  my 
opinion  until  I  am  authoritatively  informed 
that  he  has  the  right — then  I  shall  be.  silent. 
But  I  never  heard  before — and  it  will  be  a 
singular  doctrine  in  my  view  of  the  case — 
that  his  Holiness  can  take  cognizance  of  the 
political  movements  of  the  Irish  people,  and 
use  his  influence  to  disarrange  the  powers 
we  bring  to  bear  in  favor  of  our  liberty." 
^*  It  (the  rescript)  announces  the  undoubted 
truth,"  said  Davis,  ''  that  the  main  duty 
of  a  Cluistian  priest  is  to  care  for  the  souls 
of  his  flock,  and  both  by  precept  and  ex- 
ample to  teach  mildness,  piety,  and  peace. 
It  does  not  denounce  a  Catholic  clergy- 
man from  aiding  the  Repeal  movement  in 
all  ways  becoming  a  minister  of  religion. 
Nowhere  in  the  rescript  is  the  agitation 
as  a  system,  or  Repeal,  as  a  demand,  cen- 
sm-ed;  but  some  reported  violence  of 
speech  is  reproved." 

The  writers  of  the  Nation^  and  those  who 
generally  acted  with  them,  were  in  perfect 
accord  with  McNevin  and  Davis,  as  well  as 
with  the  clergy  and  the  bishops ;    and  most 


128  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

prominent  among  the  latter  was  to  be 
found  the  venerable  Archbishop  McHale 
of  Tuam,  who,  a  few  days  after  the  re- 
ception of  the  Cardinal's  letter,  attended  a 
repeal  banquet  at  Limerick  and  delivered 
one  of  his  characteristic  speeches,  full  of 
fire,  eloquence,  and  denunciation.  ^^A 
distinguished  Catholic  priest,"  says  one 
of  O'Connell's  biographers,  "who  fre- 
quently visited  Rome,  informed  O'Neil 
Daunt  that  the  expression  of  Irish  senti- 
ment and  purpose  at  Conciliation  Hall 
produced  a  powerful  and  salutary  effect  at 
the  Vatican."  Mr.  Petrie's  occupation 
was  gone. 

The  only  apparent  change  produced  by 
the  Cardinal  Prefect's  letter  was  a  more 
moderate  tone  on  the  part  of  such  of  the 
clergy  as  were  naturally  impetuous  or  justly 
indignant  at  the  perpetual  insults  heaped  on 
their  countrymen  by  an  alien  legislature  ; 
but  the  remote  effect  was  deleterious 
to  the  national  cause,  for  it  served  still 
more  to  separate  the  laity  from  their  old 
friends  and  guides  and  to  expose  them  to 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  129 

the   absurd   and   impractical   teachings  of 
amateur  revolutionists. 

While   the   Association   was  a   unit   on 
the  questions  of  the  Bequest  act  and  the 
Rescript  it  was  far  from  being  so  harmonious 
on   other   matters    affecting   its    interests ; 
more    particularly  on  finance.     Even   be- 
fore the  arrest  of  the   repeal  leaders  and 
during  their  imprisonment,  low  murmurings 
were  heard  against  the  lavish  expenditure 
of  the  funds  in   many  useless  ways,    but 
particularly  in  paying  handsome  salaries  to 
persons  who  performed  no  equivalent  work. 
Sinecurists,  the  relatives  and  friends  of  cer- 
tain   pretentious   repealers,  were,    it   was 
hinted,  eating  up  the  funds  supplied  for  a 
very  different  purpose,  and,  as  no  official 
report  of  the  receipts  and  expenditure  had 
ever  been  published,  it  was  insinuated  that 
the  treasury  of  the  body  was  in  incapable 
or   corrupt  hands.     Though  no   one   ever 
thought  of  implicating  O'Connell  in  these 
charges,  he  saw  fit  to  express  his  indigna- 
tion at  what  he  called  the  unwarrantable 
interference  of  the  minority,  and  unluckily 


130  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

took  part  with  those  who  wished  their  pro- 
teges retained  in  the  nominal  employment 
of  the  committee,  or  who  had  good  reasons 
for  withholding  statements  of  account.  Dur- 
ing his  temporary  absence  from  the  Associ- 
ation several  useless  persons  had  been  dis- 
charged by  a  vote  of  the  committee,  and 
considerable  money  saved  thereby  to  the 
Association,  but  on  his  return  he  took  a  de- 
cided stand  against  any  further  removals. 
He  did  not  care  so  much,  it  seems,  for  the 
displaced  officials,  though  some  of  them 
were  his  friends,  as  for  the  spirit  of  insub- 
ordination which  he  believed  was  mani- 
fested against  his  authority  and  wishes,  and 
this  he  could  not  overlook. 

As  years  stole  on  apace  and  as,  in  the 
natural  course  of  events,  his  career  in  this 
world  was  fast  drawing  to  a  close,  it  be- 
came apparent  to  his  warmest  friends  that 
his  love  of  absolute  authority  was  rapidly 
increasing,  and  that  signs,  of  a  disposition 
to  look  on  every  one  who  honestly  differed 
from  him,  as  his  enemy,  became  every  day 
more    evident.      Thus  when  the  'Eighty- 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  131 

two  Club  was  organized  in  January,  1845, 
and  when  some  of  his  friends  who  pre- 
sented themselves  for  admission  and  were 
rejected,  doubtless  for  good  reasons,  he, 
though  its  president,  finding  he  could  not 
control  all  its  actions,  ceased  to  take  anv 
interest  in  its  deliberations,  and  even  occa- 
sionally alluded  to  it  in  terms  not  very 
complimentary.  As  many  of  the  most  active 
members  of  the  club  were  prominent  Young 
Irelanders  w^e  find  that  the  breach  was  thus 
gradually  but  surely  widening. 

But  all  these  disagreements  were  insig- 
nificant in  comparison  with  the  dissensions 
which  sprung  up  after  the  passage  of  the 
Queen's  Colleges  bill  in  July,  1845.  The 
ostensible  object  of  the  act  was  the  estab- 
lishment of  three  secular  colleges  in  Ulster, 
Connaught,  and  Munster,  to  be  supported 
by  the  government,  who  claimed  complete 
control  over  them,  in  every  particular,  and 
to  be  open  to  students  without  regard  to 
creeds  or  politics ;  but  the  real  design,  be- 
yond all  question,  w^as  to  fling  another 
apple  of  discord  among  the  priesthood  and 


132  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

the  people,  to  excite  discussion  between 
the  sticklers  for  mixed  education  and  the 
advocates  of  the  denominational  system. 
A  faint  hope,  also,  was  latent  in  the  breast 
of  the  ministry  that  if  those  colleges 
proved  a  success  they  could  in  time  be  so 
managed  that  the  youth  of  Ireland,  while 
being  perverted  in  faith  and  morals  by  the 
aid  of  English  books,  British  professors,  and 
judicious  distribution  of  honors,  might  be 
brought  to  look  with  indifference,  if  not  with 
contempt,  on  their  religion  and  father-land. 
When  the  bill  was  first  introduced  and 
its  leading  features  given  to  the  public,  the 
Irish  hierarchy  met  in  synod  and  drew  up 
the  following  memorial,  which,  as  there  are 
statements  of  principles  in  it  as  true  and  as 
applicable  to  education  in  our  day  as  they 
then  were,  are  well  worthy  of  reproduction. 
The  prelates  laid  down  the  following  con- 
ditions : 

"  That  memorialists  are  disposed  to  cooperate  on  fair 
and  reasonable  terms  with  her  majesty's  government 
and  the  legislature,  in  establishing  a  system  for  the 
further  extension  of  academic  education  in  Ireland. 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  133 

"  That  a  fair  proportion  of  the  professors  and  other 
office-hearers  in  the  new  colleges  should  be  members 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  whose  moral  conduct 
shall  have  been  properly  certified  by  testimonials  of 
character  signed  by  their  respective  prelates.  And  that 
all  the  office-bearers  in  those  colleges  should  be  appointed 
by  a  board  of  trustees,  of  which  the  Roman  Catholic 
prelates  of  the  provinces  in  which  any  of  those  colleges 
shall  be  erected,  shall  be  members. 

"  That  the  Roman  Catholic  pupils  could  not  attend 
the  lectures  on  history,  logic,  metaphysics,  moral  phi- 
losophy, geology,  or  anatomy,  without  exposing  their 
faith  or  morals  to  imminent  danger,  unless  a  Roman 
Catholic  professor  will  be  appointed  for  each  of  those 
chairs. 

"  That  if  any  president,  vice-president,  professor,  or 
office-bearer,  in  any  of  the  new  colleges,  shall  be 
convicted  before  the  board  of  trustees  of  attempting  to 
undermine  the  faith  or  injure  the  morals  of  any  student 
in  those  institutions,  he  shall  be  immediately  removed 
from  his  office  by  the  same  board." 

Whether  the  Irish  hierarchy  seriously- 
entertained  the  idea  that  the  prayer  of  this 
memorial  would  be  granted  we  cannot  well 
say;  if  they  did,  they  were  sadly  disap- 
pointed, for  the  bill  became  a  law  without  as 
much  as  conceding  one  iota  to  their  opinions 
or  in  fact  to  the  sentiments  of  any  portion  of 


134  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

the  people  it  professed  to  serve.  No,  tlie 
Iiish  were  to  be  overburdened  with  favors 
even  against  then'  expressed  opposition.  The 
bishops  therefore  almost  unanimously  re- 
solved to  denounce  tlie  colleges,  and  kept 
their  pledge  so  faithfully  that  in  despite  of 
the  cajoler}^,  threats,  and  intrigues  of  several 
successive  ministries  who  have  lavished 
honors  and  money  on  those  institutions, 
their  efficiency  at  present  is  a  matter  of 
very  grave  doubt  to  the  majority  of  the 
people  of  Ireland. 

On  this  occasion  O'Connell  was  with  the 
bishops,  and  he  was  right.  At  fii'st  he  seemed 
to  approve  of  the  project  of  mixed  secular 
colleges,  but  when  he  considered  the  clauses 
of  the  bill  closely,  had  read  the  memorial  just 
quoted,  had  reflected  on  how  powerful  an 
instrument  those  institutions  might  become, 
in  the  hands  of  an  unscrupulous  government, 
against  faith,  morals,  and  patriotism,  his 
opinions  were  quickly  changed.  He  com- 
menced with  desirinof  laro-er  facilities  for  a 
higher  education  of  the  children  of  the 
masses, without  regard  to  religious  opinions, 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  135 

lie  tlien  adojDted  the  views  of  the  hierarchy, 
who  did  not,  in  terms,  condemn  the  endow- 
ment of  mixed  schools,  under  circumstances 
and  guarantees,  and  ended  in  rejecting  alto- 
gether, as  immoral  and  anti-Irish,  mixed 
0-overnment  colleo^es  in  all  their  details. 
Alluding  to  the  advocacy  of  the  Act  by 
c'ertain  nationalists,  a  biographer  of  O'Con- 
nell  says : 

"  These  opinions  did  not  meet  O'ConnelPs  approbation ; 
he  drew  very  opposite  conclusions.  The  founders  of 
the  new  colleges  hated  Catholicity  much,  but  Irish 
nationality  more.  The  bright  lamp  of  patriotism,  which 
had  burned  for  ages  in  the  gloom  of  the  sanctuary, 
would  languish  and  die  in  the  glaring  light  of  those 
academic  halls,  where  religion  would  be  sneered  at  as  an 
antiquated  superstition,  and  honest  patriotism  as  a  "pre- 
judice of  place" — both  of  which  should  be  sacrificed 
by  men  of  sense  for  a  situation  in  the  colonies  or  an  ap- 
pointment in  England.  Servility  to  aristocracy  would 
be  substituted  for  obedience  to  religion  and  homage  to 
God.  In  short,  the  godless  colleges  would  be  the  slave- 
markets  of  Irish  intellect.'^ 

O'Connell,  as  we  have  seen,  abjured  the 
colleges,  not  as  government  foundations  but 
for  the  irreligious  and  unpatriotic  teachings 
wiiich  he  anticipated  from  them  ;  the  Young 


136  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

Irelanders  were  perfectly  satisfied  that  the 
English  government  should  pay  the  ex- 
penses but  not  select  the  professors,  as  the 
tenth  clause  in  the  bill  authorized  them  to 
do,  a  very  illogical  and  unreasonable  expec- 
tation when  it  is  remembered  that  it  was  an 
English  ministry  dealing  with  an  Irish  sub- 
ject. This  latter  objection  was  not  offered 
on  the  grounds  of  danger  to  faith  and 
morals,  but  from  a  dread  of  undue  official 
influence. 

''  The  rising  generation,  of  opposite  opin- 
ions, mingling  freely  in  those  academic  halls, 
would  cast  aside  their  sectarian  sympathies," 
they  fancied,  "  and  melt  into  a  homogeneous 
mass  of  ardent  nationalism,  forgetful  of 
party  feeling  and  fervently  attached  to 
Ireland."  In  other  words,  they  wished  to 
subordinate  Christianity  itself  to  *' nation- 
alism, "  and  while  grasping  at  a  shadow 
would  be  certain  to  lose  the  substance ;  for 
without  fixed  principles  of  morality  and 
justice,  the  true  offspring  of  religion,  all  the 
merely  mental  cultivation  of  which  man  is 
susceptible  and   all  the  abstract   devotion 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  137 

lie  may  entertain  for  his  country,  are 
merely  snares  to  the  thoughtless,  and  worse 
than  delusions. 

Mr.  O'Brien  was  particularly  emphatic 
''n  his  opposition  to  that  portion  of  the  act 
which  allowed  the  professors  to  be  ap- 
pointed by  government  and  not  by  trustees. 
In  seconding  the  adoption  of  a  petition 
against  this  clause,  he  said :  "I  am  not  dis- 
posed to  assist  the  government  in  making 
those  seminaries,  which  ought  to  be  seats  of 
learning,  the  filthy  sties  of  corruption.  It  is 
because  I  believe  that  such  would  be  their 
character  if  this  tenth  clause  were  to  remain 
a  legislative  enactment,  that  I  shall  oppose 
it  to  the  utmost." 

For  weeks  and  months  before  the  bill 
passed,  Conciliation  Hall  rung  with  noisy 
debates  on  the  measui-e,  till  the  word  Repeal 
was  almost  unheard  or  unheeded.  Both 
sections  were  opposed  to  certain  objection- 
able features  of  the  act,  but  the  ''  Young 
L'elanders  "  continued  to  support  the  princi- 
pal plan  itself,  while  the  ^'  Old  Irelanders," 
as  they  began  to  be  called,  condemned  it 


138  THE  ^lEN  OF  '48. 

in  toto.  To  do  the  Liberator  justice,  it 
must  be  said  that  he  endeavored  as  much 
as  possible  to  avoid  a  discussion  so  fraught 
with  dissensions  ;  and  it  was  only  in  his 
absence,  at  Derrynane  or  in  parliament, 
that  the  premonitory  symptoms  of  a  near 
approaching  ruptui'e  could  be  noticed.  His 
son,  John  O'Connell,  who  had  always  the 
bitterness  of  a  fanatic,  without  any  of  the 
honesty  which  frequently  palliates,  if  not 
redeems,  a  character  so  disagreeable,  was 
generally  the  fii^st  to  evoke  the  e^dl  spirit 
of  discord  by  appeals  to  the  lowest  preju- 
dices of  his  audience.  This  naturally  pro- 
voked retort  or  \^ndication  on  the  part  of 
those  who  favored  mixed  education.  Then 
followed  angry  words  and  simulated  ex- 
pression of  a  desire  to  avoid  disunion,  and 
the  weekly  meetings  of  the  Association 
usually  adjourned,  and  left  the  sting  of 
defeat  or  disappointment  rankling  in  the 
bosom  of  either  faction. 

The  dissolution  of  the  Repeal  Association 
was  now  only  a  question  of  time.  Peel 
and  Heytesbury  had  triumphed,  the  incom- 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  139 

ing  Whigs  sniffed  an  easy  victory  when 
they  again  got  into  office,  and  the  cause 
of  Irish  independence  was  put  back  for 
one  generation  at  least.  For  accelerating 
this  catastrophe  O'Connell  himself  was  not 
blameless,  nor  were  the  Young  Ireland 
party,  whose  views,  to  speak  mildly,  were 
not  conceived  in  the  spirit  of  true  states- 
manship, or  advanced  always  with  proper 
regard  to  the  well- formed  opinions  of 
others ;  but  the  chief  guilt — for  guilt  it 
most  assuredly  was — rested  on  John  O'Con- 
nell, Conway,  and  such  parasites  of  the 
Liberator,  who  thought  to  find  favor  in  his 
eyes  by  the  exercise  of  the  most  vile  and 
uncalled  for  abuse  of  those  who  differed 
from  him,  and  whom  they  went  so  far  as  to 
style  publicly  as  the  '^baffled  faction"  and 
the  ^*  infidel  party,"  even  in  his  presence. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Celebration  of  the  first  anniversary  of  the  30th  of  May, 
1844 — O'Connell  in  Thurles — Action  of  the  British  par- 
liament respecting  absent  Irish  Members — Michael  Doheny 
— William  Smith  O'Brien  and  John  O'Connell — Imprison- 
ment of  the  former — Debate  in  Conciliation  Hall — Ad- 
dress of  the  '83  Club — More  dissensions — Approach  of  the 
famine. 

During  all  those  unseemly  bickerings 
and  sad  foreboding,  the  first  anniversary  of 
the  imprisonment  of  the  leading  Repealers, 
the  30th  of  May,  was  not  forgotten  or  neg- 
lected. The  special  committee  appointed 
to  make  all  necessary  arrangements,  con- 
sisting of  Sir  Coleman  O'Loughlin,  Thomas 
Davis,  and  several  men  of  like  calibre  and 
taste,  selected  the  Rotundo  as  a  fitting  place 
to  hold  the  celebration ;  and  determined  that 
a  grand  lev^e,  to  which  were  to  be  invited 
all  Repealers  of  note  in  the  United  King- 
dom, would  be  the  most  appropriate  and 
most  popular  manner  of  testifying  their  de- 
testation of  the  cruelty  and  injustice  of 
English  law  as  administered  in  Ireland,  as 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  141 

well  as  tlieir  esteem  and  affection  for  its 
latest  distinguished  victims.  Tliey  felt, 
perhaps,  that  from  the  ominous  signs  of  the 
times  this  would  be,  in  all  probability,  the 
last  demonstration  of  the  kind  Ireland  would 
ever  behold,  and  their  preparations  were  on 
a  scale  of  magnitude  such  as  the  capital 
had  never  beheld  in  its  palmiest  days. 

Early  on  the  morning  of  the  30th,  the 
spacious  round  room  of  the  Rotundo  was 
filled  with  corporate  delegations,  bishops, 
noblemen,  members  of  parliament,  repre- 
sentatives of  the  learned  professions,  mag- 
istrates, artists,  poets,  orators,  and  authors ; 
while  in  the  streets  leading  to  the  building 
dense  human  masses  swayed  and  crowded, 
content  if  they  could  only  catch  a  glimpse 
of  their  favorite  champions  as  they  passed 
in  or  retired.  O'Connell,  the  chief  object  of 
attraction,  occupied  the  centre  of  a  raised 
platform  sm-rounded  by  his  former  fellow- 
prisoners,  and  right  royally  saluted  the 
guests  as  they  were  presented  to  him.  ' '  His 
demeanor,"  says  one  who  was  present  on  the 
occasion,  '*  while  exercising  the  prerogatives 


142  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

of  his  position,  was  such  as  became  a  man 
conscious  that  he  occupied  a  throne  loftier 
than  any  ever  yet  decked  by  a  kingly  crown. 
But  when  his  official  functions  were  dis- 
charged, he  addi'essed  the  impassioned 
throng  in  language  too  tame  for  the  most 
ordinary  occasion."  Alas  !  though  a  free 
man,  and  surrounded  by  the  sunshine  of 
myriads  of  fond,  warm  hearts,  the  shadow 
of  the  prison,  the  consciousness  of  defeat, 
nay,  the  very  mark  of  speedy  dissolution 
was  upon  him.  '^  The  cynosure  of  all  eyes, 
the  observed  of  all  observers,"  his  was, 
perhaps,  the  only  heavy  heart,  the  only 
troubled  mind,  in  that  august  and  brilliant 
assemblage  of  Irish  Nationalists. 

After  the  lev^e  was  over  there  was  a 
meeting  held  in  the  Pillar  room — John 
O'Connell,  M.  P.  for  Kilkenny,  in  the  chair, 
O'Brien  moved  the  adoption  of  the  following 
resolution  and  pledge,  which,  on  being 
seconded  by  Henry  Grattan,  son  of  the 
illustrious  statesman  of  that  name,  were 
adopted  with  great  earnestness  and  en- 
thusiasm : 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  143 

"  Resolved,  That  in  commemorating  tliis  first  anni- 
versary of  the  30th  of  May,  we  deem  it  our  duty  to 
record  a  solemn  pledge  that  corruption  shall  not  seduce, 
nor  deceit  cajole,  nor  intimidation  deter  iis  from  seek- 
ing to  obtain  for  Ireland  the  blessings  of  self-govern- 
ment through  a  national  legislature,  and  we  recommend 
that  tlie  following  pledge  be  taken : 

u  i  Y^Te,  the  undersigned,  being  convinced  that  good 
government  and  wise  legislation  can  be  permanently 
secured  to  the  Irish  people  only  through  the  instrumen- 
tality of  an  Irish  Legislature,  do  hereby  pledge  our- 
selves to  our  country  that  we  will  never  desist  from 
seeking  the  repeal  of  the  Union  w'itb  England  by  all 
peaceable,  moral,  and  constitutional  means,  until  a  par- 
liament be  restored  to  Ireland/ 

^' Dated  this  30th  day  of  May,  1845."' 

This  solemn  covenant  and  agreement  was 
there  and  then  signed  by  all  present,  in- 
cluding the  Irish  mayors,  various  delega- 
tions from  the  provinces,  members  of 
parliament,  of  the  ^82  club,  and  thousands 
of  others ;  and  the  scene  closed  amid 
general  rejoicing  and  mutual  congratula- 
tions among  the  Nationalists.  How  hollow 
was  the  entire  pageant,  how  soon  the  vows 
so  grandiloquently  made  were  to  be  broken, 
was  known  to,  or  suspected  by,  but  few, 


144  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

In  the  latter  part  of  September  of  the  same 
year,  another  and  the  last  of  the  great  mon- 
ster meetings  was  held  at  Thurles,  at  which 
about  one  hundred  thousand  persons  were 
present.  There  was  plenty  of  enthusiasm 
displayed  on  the  part  of  the  people,  and 
O'Connell  made  the  principal  speech.  But 
how  changed  from  his  former  inspiriting  and 
defiant  tones  !  He  spoke,  indeed,  of  repeal 
of  the  Union,  of  petitions  to  the  queen  and 
to  the  parliament,  of  having  seventy  Repeal 
members  in  that  body  ;  but  the  burden  of  his 
address  was  peace,  still  peace,  and  for  the 
first  time  in  his  life  broadly  hinted  at  the 
possibility  of  the  defeat  of  his  projects.  *^  I 
do  solemnly  declare,"  he  said,  "  that,  even 
though  my  efforts  were  not  to  be  crowned 
by  success,  I  had  rather  be  engaged  in  this 
struggle  for  the  welfare  and  happiness  of 
my  native  land,  than  enjoy  all  of  wealth, 
and  resplendence,  and  magnificence  that 
the  treasures  of  congregated  worlds  could 
bestow  on  me."  Times,  however,  were 
rapidly  changing,  and  the  high-flown  lan- 
guage of  the  once  daring  Liberator  fell  flat 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  145 

on  the  general  ear,  and  left  the  lieart  of  the 
nation  untouched.  The  Repeal  Association, 
though  occasionally  showing  spasmodic 
symptoms  of  existence,  was  really  dying 
beyond  the  power  of  resuscitation.  The 
people  knew  and  keenly  felt  that  it  would 
soon  be  a  loathsome,  untenanted  body,  a 
putrid  carcass,  Avithout  a  soul :  already 
given  over  to  dissolution  and  the  worms  of 
corruption. 

Some  months  previous  to  this  meeting 
a  step  was  taken  by  Conciliation  Hall, 
which,  at  one  time,  it  was  thought,  would 
have  led  to  grave  and  very  complicated 
questions  concerning  the  power  of  the 
imperial  parliament  in  controlling  Irish  af- 
fairs. The  committee  of  the  Association 
passed  a  resolution,  that  all  members  of 
parliament  who  were  members  of  their 
body  should  be  required  to  absent  them- 
selves from  the  House  of  Commons,  unless 
when  bills  of  a  strictly  Irish  nature  were 
under  consideration.  Upon  this,  Joseph 
Hume,  M.  P.,  gave  notice  of  a  motion  in 
the  Commons  for  a  call  of  the  House  so  as 


146  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

to  compel  all  absentees  to  attend.  The 
question  then  arose  in  the  Association, 
whether  the  House,  under  the  act  of  Union, 
had  a  right  to  compel  Irish  members  to 
attend  ;  and,  secondly,  if  the  speaker's  writ, 
in  case  of  refusal,  would  run  in  Ireland  ?  A 
sub-committee,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Do- 
heny,  O'Hea,  O'Loughlin,  Mullin,  and 
O'Dowd,  was  appointed  to  consider  and 
rej)ort  on  the  matter.  The  members  of  the 
.  committee  being  all  familiar  with  constitu- 
tional law,  naturally  reported  in  the  affirma- 
tive, but  upon  their  decision  being  submitted 
to  O'Connell  he  dissented  from  it,  and  after 
some  consideration  drew  up  a  directly  con- 
trary one  for  adoption  by  the  sub-committee. 
Mr.  Doheny,  the  chairman,  objected  to  the 
soundness  of  O'Connell's  legal  views,  and  an 
acrimonious  debate  ensued,  in  the  course  of 
which  some  very  unworthy  insinuations 
were  advanced  by  the  latter  against  his 
opponent.  Michael  Doheny  was  at  this 
time  an  ardent  Nationalist,  an  excellent 
popular  speaker,  thoroughly  honest,  and, 
witlial,  a  good  lawyer,  but  with  all  the  fire 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  147 

of  his  native  county,  Tipperary,  he  resented 
those  charges  and  maintained  his  well- 
digested  views  with,  perhaps,  undue  warmth 
and  tenacity,  even  against  all  odds. 

The  result  was  that  O'Connell's  report 
was  accepted,  and  at  the  next  meeting  of  the 
Association  it  was  adopted  with  great  en- 
thusiasm. It  was  also  agreed  in  committee 
that  O'Brien  and  John  O'Connell  should  be 
instructed  to  test  the  question  of  parliamen- 
tary compulsion :  O'Brien,  by  going  to 
London  and  thus  placing  himself  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  house  of  Commons  ;  and 
John  O'Connell,  by  remaining  in  Ireland 
to  await  the  speaker's  writ. 

Those  two  gentlemen  being  in  the 
English  capital  in  the  latter  part  of  June, 
1845,  received  from  the  chairman  of  the 
Committee  of  Selection  a  notice  to  the  fol- 
lowing effect : 

"I  am  directed  by  the  Committee  of  Selection  to 
inform  you  that  your  name  is  on  the  list  from  which 
members  will  be  selected  to  serve  on  the  railway  com- 
mittees which  will  commence  their  sittings  in  the  week 
beginning  Monday,  the  14th  July,  during  which  week 


148  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

it  will  be  necessary  for  you  to  be  in  attendance,  for  the 
purpose  of  serving,  if  requested,  on  a  railway  com- 
mittee." 

To  this  O'Brien  replied : 

''I  trust  tliat  tlie  Committee  of  Selection  w^ill  not 
think  I  am  prompted  by  any  feeling  of  disrespect  to- 
ward them,  or  toward  the  House  of  Commons,  when  I 
inform  them  that  it  is  ray  intention  not  to  serve  on  any 
committees,  except  such  as  may  be  appointed  with 
reference  to  the  affairs  of  Ireland.  .  .  . 

''  Desiring  that  none  but  tiie  representatives  of  the 
Irish  nation  should  legislate  for  Ireland,  we  have  no 
wish  to  intenneddle  with  the  affairs  of  England  or  Scot- 
land, except  in  so  far  as  tbey  may  be  connected  with 
the  interests  of  Ireland,  or  with  the  general  policy  of  the 
empire. 

"  In  obedience  to  this  principle  I  have  abstained  from 
voting  on  English  and  Scotch  questions  of  a  local 
nature,  and  the  same  motive  now  induces  me  to 
decline  attendance  on  committees  on  any  private  bills 
except  such  as  relate  to  Ireland." 

John  O'Connell  also  wrote  a  letter,  ^'  ab- 
solutely declining  to  attend,"  and  previous 
to  its  delivery  returned  to  Ireland  to  await 
the  result.  Matters,  however,  were  allowed 
to  rest  for  a  time,  and  it  was  only  in  the 
spring  of  the  following  year,  upon  O'Brien's 
visit  to  London,  that  he  again  was  notified 


THE  MEX  OF  '48.  149 

to  attend  bj  the  Committee  on  Selection. 
Thougii  lie  found  that  in  his  absence,  and 
without  anv  consultation  with  the  Associa- 
tion,  O'Connell,  his  son,  and  several  other 
Repeal  members,  in  face  of  tlie  resolution 
which  they  had  framed  and  supported  in 
Conciliation  Hall  the  previous  year,  were 
acting  on  English  or  Scotch  railway  commit- 
tees, his  resolution  was  unshaken.  In  reply 
to  the  cu'cular  again  requesting  his  attend- 
ance, he  wrote : 

^'  I  have  been  called  over  from  Ireland  at  a  period 
wten  tlie  deplorable  situation  of  that  country  requires 
the  presence  of  all  whose  duties  connect  them  with  it,  for 
the  purpose  of  resisting  a  measure  by  which  it  is  proposed 
to  invade  the  personal  freedom  and  to  suspend  the 
constitutional  liberties  of  the  Irish  people.  In  offering 
resistance  to  that  measure,  it  will  be  necessary  for  me  to 
assist  in  exposing  the  systematic  misgovernment  which 
has  produced  those  results,  which  furnish  a  pretext  for 
this  renewed  attempt  to  coerce  Ireland.  The  time  and 
facilities  at  my  command  being  limited,  I  do  not  feel 
myself  at  liberty  to  allow  my  attention  to  be  diverted 
from  subjects  of  higher  import  to  matters  of  local  con- 
cern, which  do  not  affect  the  interests  of  my  country. 

"  I  must,  therefore,  respectfully  decline  to  serve  on 
the  committees  on  private  bills,  except  such  as  relate  to 


150  THE  MEN  OF '43. 

Irelami.  I  am  aware  that  the  House  has  the  power  to 
deprive  my  constituents  of  such  humble  services  as  I 
can  render  them,  by  imprisoning  my  person,  contrary 
to  law.  I  have  fully  considered  and  am  prepared  to 
abide  that  alternative. " 

On  the  6tli  of  April,  1846,  O'Brien 
received  a  reply  to  his  letter,  stating,  in 
polite  terms,  that  his  reasons  did  not  con- 
stitute a  valid  excuse  for  exemption,  but 
suoro^ested  that,  if  he  would  consent  to  serve 
at  some  future  period,  matters  might  be 
amicably  arranged.  O'Brien  persisted  in 
his  refusal.  On  the  27th,  the  House,  on 
motion  of  Mr.  Est  court,  chairman  of  the 
Committee  of  Selection,  ordered  Mr. 
O'Brien  to  attend  the  Railway  Committee 
on  group  II.  After  its  passage,  that  gen- 
tleman rose  and  quietly  said  ''that  he  had 
understood  the  motion  put  by  the  Speaker 
to  be  merely  a  request  that  he  would  attend ; 
he  was  willing,  as  he  before  stated,  to  do  so, 
in  discharge  of  his  general  duty  to  his  con- 
stituents, under  protest  against  any  right 
in  the  House  to  enforce  his  attendance  as 
an  L'ish  member.     But,  understanding  that 


THE  MEN  OF '48.  151 

the  motion  put  and  carried  was,  that  he  be 
*  ordered  by  the  House  to  attend  the  Commit- 
tee,' he  begged  at  once,  with  all  respect,  to 
state  that  it  was  his  intention  not  to  attend 
the  committee  on  group  II."  On  the  fol- 
lowing day  the  House  declared  him  ^'  guilty 
of  contempt,"  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty-three  to  thu'teen,  and  on  the  30th  he 
was  arrested  by  the  sergeant-at-arms  and 
put  in  the  ''cellar,"  or  prison  of  the  Com- 
mons. 

During  the  debate  on  the  motion  for  com- 
mitment for  contempt,  the  conduct  of  the 
Repeal  members  and  other  Irish  representa- 
tives was  anything  but  sympatlietic  or  just. 
Even  O'Connell,  when  challenged  to  give 
some  legal  reason  or  authority  why  the  House 
should  not  act  as  it  was  doing,  failed  to  give 
any  definite  response,  but  contented  him- 
self with  a  half-apologetic,  half- deprecatory 
reply,  more  objectionable  to  the  proud  spirit 
of  his  resolute  countrymen  than  open  attack 
or  condemnation.  John  O'Connell,  who  had 
but  lately  declared  himself  ''  ready  to  die  on 
the  floor  of  the  House,"  went  even  farther 


152  THE  MEiN  OF   '43. 

in  his  canting  way;  and  Sir  T.  Wilde, 
doubtless  to  please  tlie  parasites  of  O'Con- 
nell  and  to  fan  the  flame  of  jealousy  that 
was  now  so  apparent,  openly  asserted  his 
belief  that  O'Brien  was  solely  influenced  by 
a  ^^  morbid  love  of  popularity  and  notoriety.'^ 
To  this  truckling  knight,  Mr.  Fitzgerald 
answered  emphatically,  from  his  own  knowl- 
edge, ''  that  Mr.  O'Brien  adopted  his  present 
course,  not  with  a  view  of  making  himself  a 
martyr,  but  in  order  to  serve  his  country. 
As  for  popularity,  it  was  impossible  to 
make  him  more  popular  than  he  now  was." 
On  the  1st  of  June,  O'Brien  wrote  a  letter  to 
his  friend,  Mr.  Roache,  M.  P.,  explaining  his 
position,  and  concluding  in  the  following 
terms : 

"  I  do  not  wish  you  to  reveal  to  the  House  what  an 
Irishman  thinks  of  such  a  mode  of  proceeding.  Suffer- 
ing from  the  injustice  of  the  British  parliament,  I  expect 
nothing  from  its  generosity.  I  shall  make  no  further 
appeal  to  the  House.  Yesterday  I  was  extremely  anx- 
ious to  have  been  allowed  to  speak  on  my  own  behalf, 
before  my  committal  as  a  culprit.  I  shall  not  agaiu 
condescend  to  solicit  even  this  trifling  favor.  In  con- 
cluding, I  beg  most  anxiously  and  earnestly  to  request 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  153 

you  to  inform  the  House  that  I  am  no  party  to  any 
motion  for  my  discharge. " 

The  firm  stand  of  O'Brien,  and  his  conse- 
quent imprisonment,  created  an  intense 
feeling  in  Ireland.  The  corporation  and  the 
citizens  of  Limerick  passed  votes  of  con- 
fidence in  him,  and  fully  indorsed  his  con- 
duct, Avhile  his  constituents  of  the  county 
declared  that  they  fully  approved  of  his 
course  tlu'oughout.  Addresses  of  a  similar 
nature  were  also  sent  to  him  from  Waterford, 
Galway,  Newry,  Ennis,  Athlone,  Cork, 
Kilkenny,  Cashel,  Tuam,  Ballingarry,  and 
several  other  cities  and  towns. 

O'Brien  was  now  in  confinement  for  daring 
to  serve  his  country  in  preference  to  English 
and  Scotch  railway  speculators,  and  his  own 
countrymen  thanked  him  for  his  resolute 
stand.  He  had  taken  this  stand  from  a 
conviction  that  it  was  the  only  one  that  an 
Irish  member  ought  to  assume ;  as  well 
as  in  obedience  to  the  behests  of  the 
Association.  He,  of  all  who  scarcely  a 
year  before  had  pledged  themselves  not 
to    serve    in    parliament,    remained    faith- 


154  THE  MEN  OF  '43. 

ful  to  his  word.  What,  then,  was  the 
Association  as  a  whole  to  do  1  What  words 
of  cheer  and  encouragement  were  to  pene- 
trate the  solitude  of  his  prison,  bidding  him 
resist  the  unjust  demands  of  an  alien  parlia- 
ment to  the  bitter  end  ? 

In  the  committee  of  the  Association  a 
resolution  was  offered  and  passed,  indorsing 
O'Brien's  conduct  and  pledging  the  Associ- 
ation's cooperation  in  sustaining  his  course ; 
but  Mr.  O'Connell  declared  it  illegal  in 
terms  and  tone.  Upon  his  suggestion,  it 
was  modified ;  but  it  again  met  his  disap- 
proval, with  an  intimation,  conveyed  through 
Captain  Broderick,  that  it  might  be  better 
not  to  pass  it  in  any  shape.  Mr.  Dolieny, 
who  had  charge  of  the  resolution,  refused 
to  accede  to  this  request,  and  against  the 
wishes,  and  even  threats,  of  the  sycophants 
of  Conciliation  Hall,  brought  it  forward  at 
the  next  meeting  and  had  the  satisfaction 
of  finding  it,  though  in  a  diluted  form, 
unanimously  adopted.     It  read  as  follows : 

'^  Resolved,  That  having  learned  with  deep  regret, 
that,  by  a  resolution  of  the  House  of   Commons,  the 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  155 

country  has  been  deprived  of  the  eminent  services  of  Mr. 
William  Smith  O'Brien,  and  that  illustrious  member  of 
the  Association  himself  committed  to  prison,  we  cannot 
allow  this  opportunity  to  pass  without  conveying*  to  him 
the  assurance  of  our  undiminished  confidence  in  his 
integrity,  patriotism,  and  personal  courage,  and  our  ad- 
miration for  the  high  sense  of  duty  and  purity  of  pur- 
pose which  prompted  him  to  risk  his  personal  liberty  in 
asseition  of  a  principle  which  he  believed  to  be  inherent 
in  the  Constitution. " 

Still  there  was  not  that  general  feeling  of 
hearty  approval  of  O'Brien's  actions  that 
the  occasion  demanded.  It  was  evident  to 
many  that  some  underhand  agency  was  at 
work  among  the  people  to  weaken  their 
sympathy  for  O'Brien,  impugn  his  motives, 
or  underrate  his  wisdom,  while  at  the  same 
time  to  discourage  any  public  manifesta- 
tions of  popular  approbation.  But  his  warm 
friends,  and  the  flower  of  the  Nation- 
alists, were  not  content  that  O'Brien  should 
be  so  slighted,  or  that  the  common  enemy 
should  indulge  in  unalloyed  satisfaction 
over  their  supposed  victory.  The  'Eighty- 
two  Club,  of  which  O'Brien  was  one  of  the 
vice-presidents,  resolved  to  take  action  on 


15G  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

the  matter,  and  at  a  more  than  usually 
full  meeting  they  passed  resolutions  and 
?idopted  an  address,  the  tone  and  temper  of 
which  were  unmistakable.  Major  William 
Bryan,  John  Mitchel,  Richard  O'Gorman, 
Thomas  Francis  Meagher,  Michael  Doheny, 
John  Pigot,  and  Terence  Belle w  McManus, 
the  deputation  appointed  to  present  the  ad- 
dress, immediately  proceeded  to  London. 
On  their  arrival  they  waited  on  O'Connell, 
president  of  the  club,  and,  after  showing  him 
the  address,  requested  him  to  accompany 
them  to  present  it.  This  he  declined  on 
the  ground  that  O'Brien,  on  account  of  his 
action  since  the  imprisonment,  had  refused 
to  receive  a  visit  from  him.  The  address, 
which  was  presented  without  the  president, 
read  thus  : 

^^  To  William  Smith  O'Brien,  Esqr. : 
"Respected  Vice-Pkesident  and  Beothee — 
Heartily  approving  of  tbe  course  you  have  taken  in 
refusing  to  devote  to  tbe  concerns  of  another  people  any 
of  the  time  which  your  own  constituents  and  country- 
men feel  to  be  of  so  much  value  to  them,  we,  your 
brethren  of  the  '82  Club,  take  this  occasion  of  recording 
our  increased  confidence  in  and  esteem  for  you,  person- 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  157 

ally  and  politically,  and  our  determination  to  sustain 
and  stand  by  you  in  asserting"  the  right  of  Ireland  to 
the  undistracied  labors  of  our  own  representatives  in 
parliament. 

"  We,  sir,  like  yourself,  have  long  since  ^  abandoned 
forever  all  hope  of  obtaining  wise  and  beneficial  legis- 
lation for  Ireland  from  the  imperial  parliament ; '  nor 
would  such  legislation,  even  if  attainable,  satisfy  our 
aspirations.  We  are  confederated  together  in  the  '82 
Club,  upon  plain  ground,  that  no  body  of  men  ought  to 
have  power  to  make  laws  binding  this  kingdom,  save 
the  monarch,  lords,  and  commons  of  Ireland.  From 
that  principle  we  shall  never  depart,  and,  with  God's 
help,  it  shall  soon  find  recognition  in  a  parliament  of 
our  own. 

^^  Upon  the  mode  in  which  the  House  of  Commons 
has  thought  fit  to  exercise  the  privilege  it  asserts,  in  the 
present  instance — upon  the  personal  discourtesy  which 
has  marked  all  the  late  proceedings  in  your  regard,  we 
shall  make  but  one  comment,  that  every  insult  to  you  is 
felt  as  an  insult  to  us  and  to  the  people  of  Ireland. 

"  It  would  be  idle  and  out  of  place  to  offer  condo- 
lence to  you,  confined  in  an  English  prison  for  such  an 
ofi'ence.  We  congratulate  you  that  you  have  made  your- 
self the  champion  of  your  country's  rights,  and  sub- 
mitted to  ignominy  for  a  cause  which,  you  and  we  know, 
shall  one  day  triumph. 
(Signed) "  Coleman  M.  O'Loughlin,  Vice-President, 

"  Chairman." 

"May  9th,  1846." 


158  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

O'Brien,  who  was  deeply  gratified  at  the 
presentation  of  this  spirited  address,  re- 
ceived the  deputation  with  the  greatest 
warmth  and  affection.  In  his  written  re- 
ply, after  thanking  them  for  their  friend- 
ship and  good- will,  he  said  : 

"  In  acknowledging  your  address  I  shall  not  dwell 
upon  the  many  important  considerations  w^hich  are  in- 
volved in  my  present  contest  with  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. I  cannot  but  think,  indeed,  that  the  consti- 
tutional questions  at  issue  are  of  the  highest  moment — 
not  alone  to  the  Irish  people,  but  also  to  each  member 
of  the  legislature,  and  to  every  parliamentary  elector 
in  the  United  Kingdom.  Upon  the  present  occasion, 
however,  I  am  content  to  waive  all  reference  to  all 
collateral  issues,  and  to  justify  my  conduct  upon  the 
simple  ground  upon  which  it  has  received  3^our  approval 
— namely,  that  until  a  domestic  legislature  shall  be 
obtained  for  Ireland,  my  own  country  demands  my  un- 
divided exertions. 

''  Be  assured  that  those  exertions  wall  not  be  with- 
held so  long  as  life  and  liberty  remain  to  me,  until 
Ireland  shall  again  fiat  the  declaration  of  17S2,  '  that 
no  body  of  men  is  entitled  to  make  laws  to  bind  the 
Irish  nation,  save  only  the  monarch,  the  lords,  and  com- 
mons of  Ireland. ' " 

Whoever  wavered  in  this  trying  hour,  it 
was  evident  that   it   was   not   the   distin- 


THE  MEN  OF  "48.  159 

guislied  prisoner.  His  lofty  spirit  scorned 
alike  the  threats  of  the  hereditary  foes  of 
his  race,  and  the  vulgar  arts  of  the  dema- 
gogue. He  was  always  firm,  dignified,  and 
even  reserved,  except  to  his  most  intimate 
friends.  When  the  House  of  Commons 
found  that  the  edict  of  their  Speaker,  in- 
stead of  being  a  token  of  disgrace,  was  in 
reality  the  signal  for  renewed  love  and 
esteem  of  the  Irish  for  their  victim,  they  re- 
solved to  liberate  him.  On  the  25th,  Mr. 
Shaw,  M.  P.,  moved  that  he  be  discharged, 
remarking  that  ''  the  authority  of  the 
House  had  been  vindicated  by  his  imprison- 
ment for  twenty-five  days,"  and  adding 
that,  ''in  justice  to  Mr.  O'Brien,  he  would 
say  that  the  motion  was  made  without  that 
gentleman's  acquiescence."  There  being  no 
opposition,  the  Irish  patriot  walked  out  of 
his  dungeon  more  imperturbable,  and,  if 
possible,  more  firmly  opposed  to  British 
legislation  than  ever. 

But  the  faction  that  had  usurped  the 
leadership  of  the  Repeal  movement,  and  even 
the  control  of  the  Liberator  himself,  was  not 


160  THE  MEN  OF  '43. 

satisfied  with  those  proceedings.  Jealous  of 
the  shining  abiUties  of  the  Young  Irehmders, 
alarmed  at  their  growing  popularity  and 
outspoken  method  of  declaring  their  im- 
mutable intention  of  obtaining  the  repeal  of 
the  Union  at  all  hazards,  it  souglit  every 
opportunity  to  thwart  and  oppose  them,  and 
even  to  induce  the  great  leader,  now  bowed 
down  with  years  and  labors,  to  countenance, 
if  not  personally  support,  its  petty,  malig- 
nant schemes. 

When  the  'Eighty-two  Club  deputation 
returned  to  Dublin  their  conduct  was  severe- 
ly commented  on  in  the  Committee  of  the 
Association  by  O'Connell  and  others ;  and 
the  course  of  the  Nation^  in  sustaining 
O'Brien  and  censuring  the  members  who  had, 
unlike  him,  forgotten  their  promises  and 
yielded  to  English  intimidation,  was  made 
the  cause  of  withdrawing  the  support  of  the 
Association  from  that  newspaper.  l^heNation 
and  the  '82  Club  occupied  the  attention 
of  the  committee  during  several  sitings; 
and  while  bitter  personalities  passed  between 
both   sections,  and   charges    and   counter- 


THE  MEN  OF '48.  161 

cliarofes  were  made  that  were  not  destined  to 
be  easily  overlooked,  the  paper  continued  in 
the  same  line  of  policy,  Mr.  Duffy  and 
his  co-editors  pursued  the  even  tenor  of 
their  way,  undismayed  by  any  threats  that 
could  be  made  against  them,  and  with  un- 
diminished ardor  in  the  cause  of  self-govern- 
ment for  their  country. 

In  the  midst  of  all  these  scenes  of  quarrel 
and  petty  spite  the  year   1845  was  passing 
away ;  for  the  people  of  Ireland,  at  least,  in 
actual  suffering  and  destitution,  with  pre- 
monitor}^  symptoms  of  worse  evils  yet  to 
come.     The  very  land  audits  products,  at 
least  the  most  valuable  portion,  because  the 
most  used  by  the  people — the  potato — seem- 
ed to  be  cursed  by  the  Great  Giver,  and  to 
wither  like  the  prophet's  gourd  in  a  single 
night.    To  the  betrayal  of  some  of  the  pop- 
ular leaders,  the  lukewarmness  of  others, 
and  the  unworthy  conduct  of  nearl}^  every 
prominent  layman  in  what  was  called  the 
Old  Ireland  ranks,  were  to  be  superadded 
the  horrors  of  famine  and  the  scourge  of  pes- 
tilence.   In  October,  O'Connell  gave  a  warn- 


162  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

iiig  note  from  tlie  southwest.  ^^  In  my  own 
district,"  he  said,  ''in  the  neighborhood  of 
DeiTjnane,  up  to  Saturday  last,  there  was 
not  the  least  appearance  of  disease.  But 
thougli  that  particular  locality  is  free  from 
the  calamity,  the  local  information  in  gen- 
eral tells  us  that  the  disaster  is  all  but 
universal — that  it  is  now  reaching  from  the 
potatoes  to  the  turnips."  He  jolainly  fore- 
saw the  impending  visitation,  and  proposed 
the  remedy.  "This  is  no  time,"  he  thun- 
dered, ''to  be  bungling  at  trivial  remedies. 
The  absentees  ought  to  be  taxed.  The 
government  should  declare  that  tliey  would 
apply  to  parliament  to  tax  the  property  of 
absentees  fifty  per  cent.  I  don't  shrink  from 
being  taxed  myself  as  a  resident.  I  think 
every  resident  should  be  taxed  ten  per  cent, 
and  every  absentee  fifty  per  cent.  By  these 
means  abundant  funds  would  be  found  to 
keep  the  people  alive.  They  should  send 
to  the  Carolinas  for  rice — they  should  send 
to  other  parts  of  America  for  Indian  corn 
and  every  other  kind  of  grain,  and  be  able 
to  pay  for  it   out   of  the   public  money." 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  163 

Yet,  in  the  face  of  this  warning,  the  govern- 
ment remained  indifferent. 

Father  Mathew,  whose  peregrinations 
through  the  south  afforded  him  ample  occa- 
sion to  discover  tlie  extent  of  the  calamity, 
about  tlie  same  time  wrote  to  Mr.  Richard 
Pennefather,  under-secretary  in  Dublin 
Castle,  detailing  the  terrible  destitution 
prevailing  in  Cork  and  the  neighboring 
counties.  He  was  politely  thanked  for  his 
information,  but  no  action  whatever  was 
taken  in  the  matter. 

Play  fair  and  Lindsey,  an  Englishman 
and  a  Scotchman  who  knew  nothing  at  all 
of  Ireland,  were  appointed  commissioners  to 
report  on  the  state  of  the  agricultural  dis- 
tricts ;  and  thouo^h  thev  were  forced  to  admit 
that  the  exclusive  food  of  four  millions  of 
people,  and  the  main  sustenance  of  two  or 
three  millions  more,  was  in  great  part  de- 
stroyed, little  notice  was  taken  of  the  fact. 
^'  We  can  come  to  no  other  conclusion,"  they 
said,  "  than  that  one  half  of  the  actual  potato 
crop  of  Ireland  is  either  destroyed,  or  re- 
mains in  a  state  unfit  for  the  food  of  man. 


164  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

We,  moreover,  feel  it  our  duty  to  apprise 
you  that  we  fear  tiiis  to  be  a  low  estimate." 
The  whole  country  was  now  in  a  state 
of  alarm,  all  except  the  representatives  of 
that  paternal  government  which  England 
persists  in  foisting  on  Ireland.  The  cor- 
poration of  the  capital  sent  petitions  to  the 
queen,  that  amiable  creature  who  is  repre- 
sented as  amodel  of  all  the  virtues,  telling  her 
that  strong  men  and  feeble  women,  mothers 
and  their  little  babes,  were  dying  or  about 
to  perish  from  actual  starvation;  and 
entreating  her  to  call  an  early  session  of 
parliament,  that  some  speedy  relief  might 
be  afforded  the  sufferers ;  but  their  prayers 
fell  on  deaf  ears.  The  representative  of 
royalty  in  the  castle,  the  hoary  schemer, 
Heytesbury,  was  waited  on  by  a  deputa- 
tion consisting  of  the  Duke  of  Leinster,  the 
Lord  Mayor,  O'Connell,  and  Lord  Clon- 
curry ;  but  that  cold-blooded  wortliy,  who 
had  evidently  been  taking  a  survey  of  the 
field,  laying  his  j)lans  for  the  complete  de- 
struction of  the  Repeal  movement,  and  who 
saw  in  the  impending  famine  a  most  valuable 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  1G5 

assistant,  received  tliem  with  scant  polite- 
ness, turning  them  away  with  false  promises 
of  government  aid,  and  vague  assurances 
that  there  was  no  real  cause  of  apprehension. 
Still  the  absentees  continued  to  draw  their 
rents  out  of  the  country  at  the  rate  of  about 
forty  million  dollars  per  annum  ;  and  prod- 
uce double  that  amount  in  value,  which  the 
farmers  had  raised,  but  dared  not  consume, 
was  continually  being  shipped  to  England  : 
and  still  the  people  went  on  starving. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Opening  of  Parliament — Coercion  and  Free  Trade — 
O'Connell  and  O'Brien  in  London — Defeat  of  the  Tories 
— Ttie  Whigs  in  office — Conciliation  Hall  defies  them— 
Thomas  Francis  Meagher — Repeal  abandoned — O'Gor- 
man,  Mitchel,  and  Doheny — O'Connell's  strange  course 
— Trial  of  Charles  Gavan  Dufiy — Peace  resolutions — 
Secession  from  the  Association. 

Though  famine  stalked  the  land  and 
everywhere  the  voice  of  supplication  was 
raised  for  help,  the  English  ministry  were 
in  no  particular  hurr}^  to  summon  parlia- 
ment. Though  the  corporation  of  Dublin 
and  of  other  large  cities  had  earnestly  re- 
quested the  queen  to  convoke  as  soon  as 
possible  the  su]3posed  national  legislature, 
it  was  late  in  the  following  January  when 
it  was  called  together,  and  then  only  to 
disgust  and  dishearten,  not  alone  the  Re- 
pealers, but  every  person  who  had  the  least 
touch  of  humanity  in  his  composition.  The 
speech  from  the  throne,  as  far  as  it  related 
to  Ireland,  was  eminently  characteristic  of 
the  English  law  system  as  applied  to  Ire- 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  167 

land ;  that  is,  simply  barbarous,  cruel,  and 
mendacious.  ^'I  have  observed,"  said  the 
royal  lady,  "with  deep  regret,  the  very 
frequent  instances  in  which  the  crimes  of 
deliberate  assassination  have  been  of  late 
committed  in  Ireland.  It  will  be  your 
duty  to  consider  whether  any  measure  can 
be  devised,  calculated  to  give  increased 
protection  to  life,  and  to  bring  to  justice 
the  perpetrators  of  so  dreadful  a  crime." 

Now  this,  in  plain  language,  meant  simply 
the  adoption  of  more  oppressive  measures 
for  the  Irish ;  additional  facilities  for  whole- 
sale evictions ;  more  policemen,  bailiffs,  and 
soldiers  to  harass  and  tenify  the  poor  starv- 
ing peasantry.  Accordingly,  on  the  first 
opportunity,  a  new  Coercion  bill  was  intro- 
duced. The  measures  suggested  to  be 
taken  for  the  "increased  protection  of  life," 
referred  not  to  that  of  the  tillers  of  the  soil, 
but  to  the  landlords  and  their  understrap- 
pers. Their  lives  were  precious  in  the  eyes 
of  her  majesty's  ministers,  but  as  for  the 
people,  the  "  common  herd,"  they  were  not 
worthv    of    consideration.       Though    the 


168  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

creatures  of  the  government  liad  already 
registered  several  hundred  deaths  from 
starvation  in  the  latter  part  of  1845,  and 
the  sapient  commissions  sent  to  Ireland  by 
government  reported  at  least  half  of  the 
food  upon  which  millions  of  human  beings 
were  forced  to  subsist,  absolutely  destroyed ; 
though  the  country  had,  in  its  granaries  or 
on  its  way  to  England,  more  corn  and 
cattle  than  would  feed  twice  the  number  of 
the  j)opulation,  and  the  best-infonaied  circles 
were  complacently  calculating,  within  a 
few  thousand  or  so,  how  many  millions  of 
Irish  people  must  necessarily  die  for  want 
of  food  in  the  course  of  the  current  year ; 
the  whole  matter  was  looked  upon  with  such 
preconcerted  and  cruel  indifference  that  the 
complaints  of  the  nation  were  actually 
treated  with  quiet,  supercilious  contempt.  It 
is  not  food  the  Irish  people  want,  they  said, 
but  powder  and  ball ;  not  almoners,  but  po- 
licemen. Still,  to  keep  up  appearances,  they 
were  pleased  to  make  some  show  of  generos- 
ity. One  hundred  thousand  pounds  worth 
of  Indian  corn  was  purchased  by  the  govern- 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  1G9 

ment,  stored  in  their  dock-yards  for  awliile, 
and  then,  when  prices  rose,  offered  at  the 
highest  market-rates  to  the  starving  people 
who  had  no  money  to  buy  it.  Fifty 
thousand  pounds  were  voted  as  a  loan,  to 
be  repaid,  by  a  local  cess,  to  the  Commis- 
sionei's  of  Public  Works,  and  an  equal 
amount,  on  similar  terms,  for  the  improve- 
ment of  waste  lands ;  but  in  order  that  as 
little  as  possible  of  those  funds  might  be 
expended  for  the  relief  of  the  sufferers,  its 
distribution  was  intrusted  to  the  hands  of 
Eno'lish  officials  whose  salanes  and  contin- 
gent  expenses  devoured  the  greater  part. 

But,  beside  the  Coercion  bill,  there  was 
another  measure  introduced,  ostensibly  for 
the  benefit  of  Ireland,  but  actually  one  of 
the  most  deadly  blows  ever  aimed  at  a 
nation  so  circumstanced  as  she  was.  This 
was  the  repeal  of  the  Corn  Laws.  The 
manufactures  of  England  had  increased  so 
much  during  the  century,  and  had  absorbed 
such  a  preponderance  of  the  labor  of  the 
country,  that  the  producers  were  unable  to 
supply  the  home  demand,  and  recourse  was 


170  THE  MEN  OF '48. 

obliged  to  be  had  to  foreign  countries  to 
make  up  the  deficiency.  On  those  importa- 
tions the  landholders  had  succeeded  in  plac- 
ing a  high  protective  tariff,  which  it  was  now 
proposed,  in  the  name  of  Ireland,  to  remove; 
and  to  admit  all  corn,  cattle,  etc.,  into  British 
and  Irish  ports  free  of  duty.  Had  Ireland 
been  situated  as  was  England,  this  would 
have  been  a  substantial  boon,  but  unfortun- 
ately she  had  practically  no  manufactures, 
and  depended  almost  exclusively  on  her 
agricultural  productions.  AVliatever,  there- 
fore, would  bring  her  into  competition  with 
such  vast  grain-producing  countries  as 
Russia  and  North  America,  and  cheapen 
food,  though  a  blessing  to  the  o]Deratives  of 
Manchester  and  Birmingham,  would  be  a 
curse  to  the  Irish  faiTaers.  '^  With  respect 
to  the  proposal  before  us,"  said  O'Brien  in 
Conciliation  Hall,  alluding  to  the  proposed 
repeal  of  the  duties  on  corn,  '^  I  have  to  re- 
mark that  it  professes  to  abrogate  all  protec- 
tion. It  is,  in  my  opinion,  a  proposal  mani- 
festly framed  with  a  view  to  English  rather 
than  Irish  interests.     About  two-thirds  of 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  171 

the  population  of  England  (that,  I  believe,  is 
the  proportion)  are  dependent  on  manufac- 
tures and  commerce,  directly  or  indirectly. 
In  this  country  about  nine-tenths  of  the 
population  are  dependent  on  agriculture, 
directly  or  indirectly.  It  is  clearly  the  object 
of  the  Eng-lish  minister  to  obtain  the  asri- 
cultural  produce  which  the  people  of  this 
country  send  to  England,  at  the  lowest 
possible  price — that  is  to  say,  to  give  as 
little  as  possible  of  English  manufactures 
and  of  foreign  commodities  in  return  for  the 
agricultural  produce  of  Ireland." 

O'Connell,  O'Brien,  and  other  Irish  mem- 
bers were  in  London  in  March,  for  the  pui'- 
pose  of  opposing  the  Coercion  bill,  and  of 
endeavoring  to  extort  from  the  ministry  some 
adequate  measure  of  relief  for  their  suffer- 
ing countrymen.  They  did  not  go  to  beg 
or  solicit  charity,  but  to  demand  that  a  por- 
tion of  the  public  money  which  Ireland  had 
been,  year  after  year,  pouring  into  the  impe- 
rial treasury,  be  now  used  to  save  the  country 
from  wholesale  destruction.  On  this  point 
they  were  all  agreed,  and  their  instructions 


172  THE  MEN  OF  '48, 

were  plain  and  intelligible.  O'Connell,  in  a 
speech  delivered  byliimin  Conciliation  Hall 
on  December  8,  1845,  while  advocating  the 
restoration  of  the  Irish  parliament,  had  thus 
foreshadowed  the  duty  of  the  government : 

''  If  we  bad  a  domestic  parliament,  would  not  the  ports 
be  thrown  open — would  not  the  abundant  crops  with 
wdiich  heaven  has  blessed  her  be  kept  for  the  people 
of  Ireland — and  would  not  the  Irish  parliament  be 
more  active  than  even  the  Belgian  parliament,  to  provide 
for  the  people  food  and  employment  I  The  blessings 
that  would  result  from  Kepeal — the  necessity  for  Repeal 
— the  impossibilit}^  of  the  country  enduring  the  want  of 
Repeal — the  utter  hopelessness  of  any  other  remedy — all 
those  things  powerfully  urge  you  to  join  with  me,  and 
hurrah  for  Repeal." 

The   committee    of  the   Association,    in 

their    address,    also    laid   down    the    true 

course    of    the    Irish   representatives,    by 

saying : 

"Your  committee  beg  distinctly  to  disclaim  any  par- 
ticipation in  appeals  to  the  bounty  of  England  or 
Englishmen.  They  demand,  as  a  right,  that  a  portion 
of  the  revenue  which  Ireland  contributes  to  the  state, 
may  be  rendered  available  for  the  mitigation  of  a  great 
public  calamity." 

O'Brien  had  already  expressed  his  views 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  173 

on  the  sul3Ject  in  a  speech  before  the  Asso- 
ciation. ''I  congratulate  you,"  he  said, 
•^  that  the  universal  sentiment  hitherto  ex- 
hibited upon  tliis  subject  has  been  that  we 
will  accept  no  English  charity.  The  re- 
sources of  this  country  are  still  abundantly 
adequate  to  maintain  our  population,  and, 
until  those  resources  have  been  utterly  ex- 
hausted, I  hope  there  is  no  man  in  Ireland 
who  will  so  degrade  himself  as  to  ask  the 
aid  of  a  subscription." 

With  these  sentiments  the  Repeal  mem- 
bers took  their  seats  m  the  imiDerial  parlia- 
ment :  O'Connell's  efforts  were  mainly  di- 
rected to  the  defeat  of  the  Coercion  bill. 
In  the  course  of  a  speech,  the  last  of  any 
importance  which  he  delivered  in  the  House 
of  Commons,  he  is  reported  to  have  said : 

^'  He  did  not  deny  tlie  existence  of  crime  in  certain 
parts  of  Ireland ;  but  he  disputed  the  efficiency  of  the 
ministerial  remedy.  He  called  upon  the  government  to 
look  into  the  real  condition  of  the  j)eople  of  Ireland, 
and  to  pass  the  only  coercion  act  that  was  required — 
an  act  to  coerce  the  landlord  who  would  not  do  his  duty. 
The  government  had  the  power  in  their  hands,  and  if 
they  would  take  a  manly  tone  with  respect  to  Ireland, 


174  THE  MEN  OF  '43. 

ttey  miglit  wave  the  wand  that  would  turn  her  misery 
and  poverty  into  prosperity  and  happiness.  He  could 
trace  the  outrages  which  served  as  a  pretext  for  the  pres- 
ent measure  to  the  nature  of  the  land  tenure  and  the 
anomalous  relations  between  landlord  and  tenant. 
The  acts  passed  since  the  Union  showed  the  many  un- 
just advantages  conferred  upon  the  landlord,  and  the 
consequent  helplessness  of  the  tenant.  These  advan- 
tages had  proved  the  fertile  sources  of  murder — espe- 
cially that  which  related  to  the  power  to  distrain  grow- 
ing crops.  There  is  a  season  in  Ireland — what  is  called 
a  starvinsf  season — for  about  six  weeks  before  the  new 
harvest  j  and  if  the  growing  crops  are  distrained,  the 
laborers  are  deprived  of  their  means  of  subsistence,  they 
are  prevented  from  digging,  and  if  their  wives  and  chil- 
dren come  out  in  the  evening  to  take  a  few  potatoes,  they 
are  consigned  to  a  jail;  the  husbands  of  the  prisoners  are 
driven  to  madness ;  and  can  it  be  a  matter  of  surprise 
that  this  state  of  things  is  a  fruitful  source  of  crime — of 
crime  which  did  not  exist  before  the  Union,  but  which  is 
traceable  directly  to  the  legislation  of  this  house  ?  The 
evils  which  have  been  fostered  under  the  existins^  svs- 
tem  are  not  to  be  cured  by  a  coercion  bill.  Similar 
experiments  have  been  tried  several  times,  and  every 
one  of  them  has  failed." 

He  tlien  proposed  as  the  proper  remedy 
the  modification  of  the  Ejectment  act,  of  the 
grand-jmy  laws,  increased  representation, 
tenant  right,  and  the  distribution  or  aboli- 


THE  MEN  OF '48.  175 

tion  of  the  Church  temporalities ;  and  con- 
ckided  by  moving,  as  an  amendment  to  the 
ministerial  bill,  the  following:  '^  That, 
instead  of  an.  unconstitutional  coercion 
bill,  measures  should  be  adopted  by  the 
House  to  eradicate  the  causes  which  produce 
crime."  The  amendment,  of  course,  was 
rejected. 

O'Brien,  ever  anxious  about  his  stricken 
countrymen,  lost  no  time,  on  his  arrival  in 
London,  to  ask  the  ministry  what  steps 
had  been  taken  to  mitigate,  even  in  part, 
their  destitution.  Sir  James  Graham,  in 
answer,  stated,  that  '^  instructions  had  been 
given  on  the  responsibility  of  the  Govern- 
ment, to  meet  every  emergency.  It  would 
not  be  expedient  for  me  to  detail  those 
instructions,  "  he  continued ;  ^'  but  I  may 
state,  generally,  there  is  no  portion  of  this 
distress,  however  wide-spread  or  lamentable, 
on  w^hich  the  government  have  not  en- 
deavored, on  their  own  responsibility,  to 
take  the  best  precautions,  and  to  give  the 
best  directions,  of  which  circumstances  could 
admit."     O'Brien,  who  had  just  left  Ireland, 


176  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

and  had  during  tlie  winter  ample  opportu- 
nity of  learning   the    wide   extent   of  the 
destitution  which  prevailed  in  the  south  and 
west,    and    of  w^itnessing   the   supine    in- 
difference of  the  English  authorities  in  his 
county,  was  not  at  all  satisfied   with   the 
apparent  truth  or  candor  of  Graham's  re- 
marks.    ''  He  was  bound  to  say,"  he   re- 
plied, "with  regard  to  the  sums  of  money 
mentioned  by  the  right  honorable  baronet 
as  having  been  on  a  former  occasion  voted 
by  the  House  for  the  relief  of  Ireland,  that, 
as  far  as  his  (O'Brien's)  own   information 
went,  not  one  single  guinea  had  ever  been 
expended   from   those   sources.      He   was 
also   bound   to   tell   the    right    honorable 
baronet  that  one  hundred  thousand  of  his 
fellow-creatures  in  Ireland  were  famishing. 
Under  such  cu'cumstances,  did  it  not  be- 
come the  House  to   consider   the   way  in 
which  they  could  deal  with  the  crisis  f     He 
would  tell  them  frankly — and  it  was  a  feel- 
ing  participated   in   by   the    majority   of 
Irishmen — that   he   was   not    disposed    to 
appeal  to  then*  generosity  in  the   matter. 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  177 

They  bad  taken,  and  they  had  tied,  the 
purse-strings  of  the  Irish  purse." 

O'Brien's  words  of  warning  were  unheed- 
ed. No  relief  other  than  the  paltry  sum  be- 
fore mentioned  was  voted^at  this  session,  the 
Corn  Laws  were  repealed,  but  the  Coercion 
bill  was  defeated  by  a  coalition  of  Whigs, 
Repealers,  a  few  radicals,  and  some  disgust- 
ed protectionists,  on  the  25th  of  June  ;  and 
on  the  6th  of  July  the  Whigs,  under  the 
leadership  of  Lord  John  Russell,  went  into 
office.  We  shall  see  farther  on  how  un- 
fortunate for  L'eland  this  change  of  min- 
istry proved. 

The  L'ish  nationalists,  though  they  re- 
garded the  Tories  as  bitter,  implacable 
foes,  looked  upon  the  Whigs  as  even  more 
dangerous,  from  their  seeming  friendship, 
but  concealed  hatred,  for  everything  L'ish. 
The  general  opinion  that  they  were  about 
to  come  into  power,  and  that  O'Connell  was 
already  in  correspondence  with  them, 
aroused  the  indignation  of  the  Young  Ire- 
landers.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Association 
held  on  the   15th   of  June,  some  leading 


178  THE  MEN  OF  '46. 

speakers  auiong  that  party  took  strong 
grounds  against  an  alliance  with  the  Whigs, 
who,  it  was  anticipated,  were  soon  to  succeed 
the  Peel  ministry ;  and  mth  whom,  it  was 
more  than  suspected,  some  of  the  promi- 
nent Repealers  in  London  had  entered  into 
treaty  for  the  abandonment  of  the  Repeal 
movement.  Amongst  the  most  eloquent 
and  captivating  of  the  young  orators  on 
this  occasion  was  one  who  was  destined  to 
occupy  a  very  important  place,  not  only  in 
the  history  of  his  own  land,  but  in  this  re- 
public— Thomas  Francis  Meagher. 

He  was  then  only  in  his  twenty-third 
year,  having  been  born  in  the  city  of  Water- 
ford,  August  13th,  1823.  All  the  care  that 
a  fond  and  wealthy  parent  could  bestow 
on  a  beloved  son  was  lavished  on  his  educa- 
tion. At  the  age  of  eleven  he  was  placed  at 
Clongowes-Wood  College,  andsubsecpiently 
tranferred  to  Stonyhurst  in  Lancashire, 
England,  where,  under  the  tutelage  of  the 
Jesuit  Fathers,  he  grew  to  manhood,  a  ripe 
scholar,  an  accomplished  gentleman,  and  a 
iDatriot  whose  devotion  to  L-eland  and  in- 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  179 

tense  pride  in  her  history,  literature,  and 
art,  were  unsurpassed  even  by  any  of  the 
chivah'ous  and  brilliant  spirits  of  that  glo- 
rious epoch.  He  was  originally  intended 
for  the  legal  profession,  but  the  necessities  of 
the  hoar,  the  earnestness  of  the  struggle  for 
national  independence,  so  absorbed  all  other 
considerations,  that  he  threw  himself  into 
the  contest  with  all  the  might  of  his  young, 
ardent  heart,  and  suddenly  became  one  of 
the  most  persuasive  and  forcible  orators  in 
the  Repeal  ranks.  His  otherwise  unoccu- 
pied moments  were  devoted  to  voluntary 
contributions  to  the  Nation^  but  it  was  from 
the  rostrum  that  he  could  best  move  the 
popular  heart,  and  from  whence  his  words 
of  hope,  cheer,  and  stern  resolve,  flowing 
brightly  and  rapidly,  produced  the  deepest 
impression  and  awoke  most  potently  the 
depths  of  Irish  feeling. 

He  had  already  made  some  harangues 
in  Conciliation  Hall,  which  had  equally  sur- 
prised and  delighted  his  auditors,  but  on 
the  occasion  alluded  to  he  more  than  sur- 
passed himself.     Speaking  of  the  rumored 


180  THE  MEN  OF   '48. 

compromise   with   Lord  John   Russell,  he 
said: 

"  Sir :  I  state  tliis  boldly,  for  tlie  suspicion  is  abroad 
tliat  the  national  cause  will  be  sacrificed  to  the  Whigs, 
and  that  the  people,  who  are  now  striding  on  to  free- 
dom, will  be  purchased  back  into  factious  vassalage. 
The  Whigs  themselves  calculate  upon  j^our  apostasy — 
the  Conservatives  predict  it.  They  cannot  believe  that 
you  are  in  earnest — at  least,  it  seems  difficult  to  con- 
vince them  of  your  truth.  On  the  hustings  you  will 
dispel  their  incredulity,  read  them  an  honest  lesson,  and 
.vindicate  your  characters.  On  their  return  to  power? 
the  Whigs  shall  find  that,  in  their  absence,  you  have 
become  a  reformed  people — that  you  have  abjured  the 
errors  of  faction,  and  have  been  instructed  in  the  truths 
of  patriotism.  They  shall  find,  I  trust,  that  a  new  era 
has  here  commenced — that  you  have  been  roused  to  a 
sen^e  of  your  inherent  power,  and,  with  the  conviction 
that  you  possess  an  ability  equal  to  the  sustainment  of  a 
high  position,  you  have  vowed  never  more  to  act  the 
Bcpoy  for  English  faction. 

"  Society — the  perfumed  society  of  your  squares  ! — 
was  happy  in  those  days,  and  loved  the  amiable  Whig 
government,  and  would,  no  doubt,  in  gratitude  for  the 
viceregal  balls  at  which  it  flounced  and  whirled,  vote 
for  Whig  candidates  to-morrow.  But,  sir,  the  society 
that  is  not  exempt  from  the  primeval  curse— the  society 
tliat  wears  out  strong  sinews  to  earn  the  privilege  of 


thp:  men  of  '43.  181 

bread — the  society  that  knows  no  day  of  rest,  no  day  of 
joy,  but  God's  own  holiday — tliat  on  wliicli  lie  bids  tlie 
toiler  go  forth  and  soothe  his  sorrows  amid  the  glories 
of  his  creation — that  day  on  which  many  a  worn  hand 
may  wreathe  a  garland  of  flowers,  that  has  been  wear- 
ing a  crown  of  thorns  the  liv^elong  week — the  society 
that  decks  out  fashion,  that  rears  up  the  mansions  of 
the  rich,  and  by  which  alone,  if  there  was  danger  on 
the  coast  to-morrow,  this  land  could  be  furnished  with 
a  guard  for  her  defence — this,  the  elder,  the  stronger, 
the  nobler  society  has  no  such  memories,  no  such 
incentives  to  subserviency.  Roused  from  the  slumber, 
into  which  the  insidious  eloquence  of  English  liberal- 
ism has  lulled  them,  the  people  have  started  up,  and 
now,  for  the  first  time,  see  before  them  a  country  of 
which  they  had  not  dreamt,  and  a  new  destiny  revealing 
itself  to  them,  like  the  sun  from  behind  theu'  old  hills, 
and  that  destiny  expanding  into  glory  as  it  mounts  the 
heaven  and  settles  high  above  the  island  !  No,  sir,  the 
people  of  Ireland  can  never  more  be  duped  into  sub- 
serviency by  assurances  of  sympathy  and  promises  of 
redress.  "We  have  become  incredulous  of  every  party 
in  the  senate  and  the  state.  We  distrust,  we  repudiate, 
we  reprobate  them.'' 

No  wonder  that  such  bummg  words 
found  a  sympathetic  echo  in  the  hearts  of 
his  hearers,  and  that  cheer  after  cheer 
greeted  every  sentence,  till  Conciliation 
Hall    rung    again     with     applause.     The 


182  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

}'oang  Irisli  tribune  was  followed  by 
Mitch e],  O'Gorman,  and  others,  in  a  like 
strain  of  condemnation  of  Whig  treachery 
and  unfaithfulness,  to  which  the  audi- 
ence responded  with  equal  vehemence. 
They  believed  that  the  Whigs  were  even 
greater  enemies  of  Ireland  than  the  Tories, 
and  they  had  not  long  to  wait  to  find  their 
opinions  more  than  confirmed.  The  views 
of  the  Young  Irelanders  thus  presented  in 
the  capital,  were  immediately  spread  far 
and  near  on  the  wings  of  the  press,  and 
even  before  Russell  and  his  party  were 
installed  in  their  offices,  the  people  were 
apprised  of  their  new  danger,  and  firmly 
resolved  to  face  it  manfully. 

But,  unfortunately,  this  did  not  suit 
O'Connell.  He  had,  during  the  combined 
opposition  against  the  Coercion  bill,  been 
brought  into  contact  with  the  Whigs,  and,  se- 
duced by  their  plausible  promises,  had 
actually  consented  to  abandon,  for  the  time 
at  least,  any  active  agitation  for  Eepeal. 
When  the  news  of  the  anti-Whig  demon- 
stration in  Dublin  reached  him  in  London, 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  183 

lie  forthwith  addressed  a  letter  to  the  com- 
mittee, which  was  read  at  the  next  meetinof 
of  the  Association,  expressing  the  '^  bitterest 
regret  at  the  efforts  being  made  by  some  of 
their  juvenile  members  to  create  dissensions 
in  the  Association."  This  was  strang-e  Ian- 
guage  for  one  who,  in  the  heyday  of  his 
power,  had  called  the  very  party  whom  it 
was  now  criminal  to  denounce,  ''base,  brutal, 
and  bloody."  Let  us  see  what  their  leader, 
Russell,  himself  said  in  parliament  about 
those  "juvenile  members" — the  best  blood 
in  Ireland — on  the  very  day  they  were  ex- 
posing his  mendacity  and  trickery  in  Con- 
ciliation Hall : 

"  There  is  a  numerous  body  in  Ireland," 
he  observed,  "  numerous  even  among"  her 
representatives,  which  says  that  no  legisla- 
tion of  a  united  parliament  can  debase  fit 
remedies  for  Irish  grievances,  and  that  it  is 
in  a  domestic  parliament  alone  that  fit  and 
wise  legislation  can  be  looked  for.  There 
are  others,  I  fear,  who,  if  I  read  rightly 
their  sentiments  as  expressed  in  a  news- 
paper— I  will  name  it — called  the  Nation, 


184  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

wliicli  lias  great  circulation  in  Ireland — who 
go  beyond  the  question  of  the  legislative 
union — who  would  wish,  not  merely  to 
have  such  a  parliament  as  that  which  it  was 
the  boast  of  Grattan  to  found,  and  which 
legislated  under  the  sceptre  of  the  same 
sovereign  as  the  parliament  of  Great  Britain, 
but  a  party  which  exerts  every  species  of 
violence,  which  looks  to  disturbance  as  its 
means,  and  regards  separation  from  England 
as  its  end." 

O'Connell,  with  a  simplicity  that  could 
be  accounted  for  only  by  declining  years 
and  health,  actually  gave  credence  to  this 
most  absurd  and  utterly  untrue  statement 
ao-ainst  the  Nation.  Some  time  after,  allud- 
inof-  to  Russell,  he  said:  "  He  was  not  the 
man  to  put  anything  forward  to  serve  a 
party  purpose,  and  was  it  not  time  for  him 
(O'Connell)  to  take  up  the  subject  when  he 
found  his  lordship  saying  that  the  Nation 
had  a  tendency  to  separation?  "  There  was 
a  time,  and  that  not  very  remote,  when  the 
opinion  of  his  lordship,  or  of  all  their  lord- 
ships   in    the    British    Empire,   would   not 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  185 

liuve  weighed  a  feather  agamst  tlie  truth, 
honesty,  and  manhness  of  the  men  who 
wrote  for  that  journal,  once  his  best  friends 
and  always  his  warmest  admirers. 

But  the  Nation,  with  its  school  of  writers 
and  orators,  had  too  lonof  been  a  thorn  in  the 
side  of  all  English  parties,  and  much  too 
thoroughly  national  in  its  aims  and  policy, 
not  to  be  dreaded  by  the  time-servers  and 
place-hunters  who  now  had  O'Connell  in 
their  keeping.  It  was  therefore  determined 
to  get  rid  of  it  at  once  and  forever.  An 
unholy  alliance  of  Whio^s  and  so-called  Re- 
pealers  was  formed  to  crush  it,  and  would 
undoubtedly  have  succeeded,  had  it  pos- 
sessed less  courage  and  vitality.  The 
time  for  the  attack  was  well  chosen,  but  the 
success  of  the  assailants  was  only  partially 
assured. 

Late  in  1845,  an  article  appeared  in  the 
Nation,  in  answer  to  some  statements  in  the 
English  papers,  that  the  railroad  system 
was  now  so  complete  in  Ireland  that,  in  case 
of  insurrection,  troops  could  be  sent  in  six 
hours  to  any  part  of  the  country.     To  this 


18G  THE  MEX  OF  '48. 

it  was  replied  that  in  one  night  all  those 
roads  could  be  destroyed,  with  some  allu- 
sions to  Ilofer  in  the  Tyrol,  and  other  fanci- 
ful suggestions  as  to  amateur  warfare. 
This  was  considered  seditious.  Duffy  was 
immediately  arrested,  indicted,  and,  on  the 
17th  of  June,  1846,  tried  in  the  Queen's 
Bench.  Every  exertion  was  made  to  con- 
vict him,  but  the  jury  disagreed  and  he  was 
discharged. 

However,  some  admissions  made  durinof 
the  trial,  that  the  tone  of  the  Nation  three 
years  previously  was  such  as  might  have 
led  some  persons  to  look  for  entire  separa- 
tion from  England  as  the  only  true  remedy 
for  Irish  discontent,  was  made  use  of  by 
the  clique  that  passed  by  the  name  of 
^'  Old  Irelanders ;"  and  they,  resolving  to 
commence  where  the  government  had  left  off, 
agreed  to  bring  the  Nation  into  disrepute 
among  the  people,  by  misrepresenting  its 
motives  and  falsifying  its  statements. 

That  this  was  but  part  of  a  plan  re-ar- 
ranged between  O'Connell  and  Lord  Rus- 
sell, to  drive  the  Young  Irelanders  out  of 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  187 

tlie  Repeal  organization,  and  to  paralyze,  if 
not  destroy,  the  Repeal  movement,  there 
can  be  little  doubt,  the  other  portion  being* 
the  introduction  of  peace  resolutions,  which, 
it  was  easily  anticipated,  the  ardent  and  as- 
j)iring  minds  of  the  young  patriots  could 
never  endure.  Looking  back  at  that  epoch 
in  the  history  of  Ireland,  we  are  lost  in 
amazement  at  the  utter  absurdity  of  such  a 
proposition  as  that  embodied  in  the  peace 
resolution  ever  having  been  submitted,  seri- 
ously, to  men  who  had  even  the  semblance  of 
manhood  or  patriotism  left.  It  was  admitted, 
in  fact,  it  was  the  constant  theme  of  liun- 
dreds  of  speeches,  books,  newspaper  articles, 
letters,  and  songs,  for  many  years,  that  the 
Irish  nation  was  and  had  been  cruelly,  bar- 
barously, inhumanly  persecuted  by  Eng- 
land, that  her  conquest  was  effected  by 
the  slaughter  of  countless  hecatombs  of  her 
sons  ;  that  her  parliament  was  wrested  from 
her  by  fraud  and  violence,  and  that  her  peo- 
ple groaned  beneath  the  weight  of  an  intol- 
lerable  alien  satrapy.  And  yet,  in  the 
face  of  all  this,  the  down-trodden,  despised, 


188  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

and  outraged  people  were  asked  to  pledge 
themselves,  tliat,  in  case  tlieir  moderate  and 
just  demands  were  rejected,  or  answered  by 
more  policemen,  soldiers,  and  coercion  acts, 
tliey  would  not  seek  to  obtain  their  rights 
by  the  strong  arm ;  that  at  no  time  nor 
under  any  circumstance  were  they  justi- 
fied in  shedding  one  drop  of  blood  to  secure 
their  inalienable  rights  and  defend  tlieir  homes 
and  altars.  A  people  who  could  consent  to 
this,  who  could  so  sla\Tishly  i^lace  their  necks 
under  the  heel  of  the  despot,  would  deserve 
and  should  receive  the  contempt  and  scorn 
of  mankind.  What  would  the  fathers 
of  our  Revolution,  to  whose  heroism  we 
are  all  heirs,  have  said,  if  such  a  doctrine 
had  been  preached  to  them  before  the 
battle  of  Bunker  Hill  or  the  surrender  of 
Yorktown^ 

It  may  be  alleged  that  Ireland  was  not 
then  in  a  condition  to  enforce  her  claims 
by  the  sword,  and  such,  indeed,  was  the  fact. 
But  wherein  lay  the  necessity  of  proclaiming 
that  she  never  would  resort  to  aims  under 
any  provocation  ?  For  such,  in  truth,  were  the 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  189 

letter  and  spirit  of  the  resolution  introduced 
in  Conciliation  Hall  on  the  loth  of  July, 
1846.  It  was  brought  forward  by  O'Con- 
nell,  '^  to  draw  a  line  of  distinction  between 
Old  and  Young  Ireland,"  as  he  himself 
said,  and  read  as  follows : 

"  That,  to  promote  political  amelioration,  peaceable 
means  alone  should  be  used,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others^ 
save  those  that  are  peaceful,  legal,  and  constitutional." 

The  original  resolution,  passed  when  the 
Association  was  founded,  only  pledged  the 
members  while  in  that  capacity  to  ''the 
total  disclaimer  of  an  absence  of  all  ph3"s- 
ical  force,  violence,  or  breach  of  the  law. " 
Therefore,  the  new  one,  which  went  beyond 
all  bounds  of  reason,  and  implied  a  whole- 
sale condemnation  of  every  hero,  statesman, 
and  nation,  whom  the  world  loves  to  honor 
and  applaud,  met  with  the  most  unqualified 
disapproval  of  every  lover  of  his  country 
that  day  present  in  Conciliation  Hall. 
O'Grorman,  Meagher,  Barry,  and  Mitchel, 
while  disclaiming  any  intention  to  resort  to 
physical  force,  or  to  violate  the  principles  of 
the  Association,  refused  absolutely  to  sub- 


190  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

scribe  to  the  new  heresy ;  the  latter,  in  par- 
ticular, delivering  a  very  able  speech  on 
the  entire  subject,  in  the  course  of  which 
he  said : 

"  This  is  a  legally  organized  and  constitutional  society^ 
seeking  to  attain  its  objects,  as  all  the  world  knows,  by 
peaceable  means  and  no  other.  Constitutional  agita- 
tion is  the  very  basis  of  it ;  and  nobody  who  contem- 
plates any  other  mode  of  bringing  about  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  country,  has  any  right  to  come  here  or 
consider  himself  a  fit  member  of  our  society.  I  believe, 
sir,  the  national  legislative  independence  of  Ireland  can 
be  won  by  these  peaceful  means,  if  boldly,  honestly, 
and  steadily  carried  out ;  and  with  these  convictions  I 
should  certainly  feel  it  my  duty,  if  I  knew  any  mem- 
ber who,  either  in  this  hall  or  out  of  it,  either  by  speak- 
ing or  writing,  should  attempt  to  incite  the  people  to 
arms  or  violence  as  a  method  of  obtaininoj-  theh  liberty 
while  this  Association  lasts,  to  report  that  member  to 
the  committee  and  move  his  expulsion.  It  is  impossible 
to  insist  on  this  too  strongly ;  and  perhaps  it  is  the  more 
necessary  at  this  time  to  explain  the  fundamental  rules 
of  the  Association  clearly,  as  the  prime  minister  of 
England  is  reported  to  have  stated  in  the  House  of 
Commons  that  there  exists  a  party  in  this  country  who  are 
looking  not  merely  for  national  independence,  but  abso- 
lute separation,  and  who  contemplate  the  employment, 
not  of  legal  agitation,  but  of  outrage  and  bloodshed  to 
bring  about  that  result.     To  refute  the  calumnies  of  the 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  191 

Erglisli  prime  minister,  and  of  all  our  otLer  enemies,  it 
is  well  to  lay  before  the  piiblic  once  more  the  real  state 
of  the  matter — once  more  to  disavow  solemnly  all  inten- 
tion of  exciting  onr  coimtrymen  to  insurrection — once 
more  to  declare  our  conviction  that  all  the  political  and 
national  rights  we  seek  for  can  be  obtained  without  shed- 
ding a  drop  of  blood,  and  that  we  mean  so  to  obtain 
them.  In  so  far,  then,  as  these  resolutions  purport  to 
embody  the  rules  and  constitution  of  this  body,  and  iaso 
far  as  they  disclaim  on  the  part  of  the  society  all  inten- 
tion of  resortins^  to  force  of  arms,  I  cordiallv  concur  in 
them.  And  as  for  the  abstract  and  universal  principle 
which  seems  to  be  contained  in  them — the  principle 
that  no  national  or  political  rights  ought  at  any  time,  or 
under  any  circumstances,  or  by  any  people,  to  be  sought 
for  with  an  armed  hand — even  upon  any  abstract  princi- 
ple, widely  as  I  dissent  from  it,  I  do  not  hold  it  neces- 
sary to  raise  any  question  here.  ...  I  content 
myself  with  saying  I  do  not  approve  of  the  principle. 
I  do  not  abhor,  for  instance,  the  Volunteers  of  1782, 
who  took  up  arms  to  procure  a  political  amelioration, 
and  would  have  deemed  it  cheaply  purchased  by  a  river  of 

blood.     'Free  trade  or  else 'was  the  lesrend  on  their 

cannon,  and  indicates  that  they  reckoned  even  commer- 
cial reform  worth  powder  and  shot.  And,  sir,  I  hope  that 
even  in  these  piping  times  no  man  will  tell  us  that  the 
Volunteers  of  '82  were  criminals  and  miscreants. 
America  sought  a  political  amelioration,  and  won 
it  by  somewhat  similar  means.  .  .  .  That  was  a  noble 
deed,  sir ;  and  instead  of  abhorring  those  Americans,  I 


192  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

envy  them.  Even  if  we  in  tliis  hall  passed  a  unanimous 
vote  of  abhon'ence  against  George  Washington,  I  ap- 
prehend that  all  mankind,  while  the  world  stands,  will 
proclaim  him  a  hero  and  a  patriot.  My  father,  sir,  was 
a  United  Irishman.  The  men  of  '98  thought  liberty 
worth  some  blood-letting ;  and  although  they  failed,  it 
were  hard  that  one  of  their  sons  should  be  thought 
unworthy  to  unite  in  a  peaceful  struggle  for  the  inde- 
pendence of  his  country,  unless  he  will  proclaim  that 
he  abhors  the  memory  of  his  father." 

Such  were,  in  general,  the  sentiments  of 
those  opposed  to  the  resohition  ;  but  having 
been  introduced  by  O'Connell,  and  sup- 
ported by  a  faction  whose  attachment  to  the 
Whigs  arose  out  of  that  species  of  gratitude 
which  has  been  defined  as  ^'  a  lively  sense 
of  favors  yet  to  come,"  it  was  passed 
by  a  large  majority.  The  Natioriy  also,  was 
dissevered  from  the  Association  about  the 
same  time,  and  the  subscriptions  sent  to  it, 
through  the  committee,  were  either  re- 
turned or  transferred  to  other  and  more  plia- 
ble publications.  Had  that  newspaper  con- 
sorted to  forget  its  grand  record  and  to 
sustain  the  peace  resolutions,  it  would  have 
received  all  the  moral  and  pecuniaiy  assist- 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  IMo 

ance  from  O'Connell  and  liis  followers  it 
might  reqiiii'e  upon  its  new  departure.  In 
fact,  a  proposition  to  that  effect  was  person- 
ally made  to  Duffy  by  O'Connell,  which,  of 
course,  was  firmly  and  indignantly  rejected. 
It  gallantly  stood  its  ground,  and,  if  possi- 
ble, became  more  vehement  than  ever  in 
asserting  the  rights  of  the  Irish  people, 
though  in  a  few  weeks  its  circulation  was 
curtailed  by  many  thousand  copies.  O'Con- 
nell then  returned  to  London,  having,  as 
he  supposed,  thoroughly  crushed  the  Young 
Irelanders  and  their  organ;  and  the  alliance 
with  the  Whigs  was  considered  consummated. 
But  he  was  mistaken ;  for  on  the  following 
Monday  the  Young  Irelanders,  who  he 
considered  had  been  expelled,  reappeared 
on  the  platform  of  the  hall,  and  took  part  as 
usual  in  the  proceedings.  O'Connell  there- 
fore instructed  his  eldest  son  John  to  re- 
open the  debate  on  the  peace  resolutions, 
and,  if  possible,  to  force  a  rupture :  the  Whigs, 
his  new  adherents,  would  be  satisfied  with 
no  less  a  concession.  That  nothing  might 
be  neo-lected  that  could  add  solemnitv  to 


194  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

the  fatal  quarrel,  the  Lord  Mayor  of  Dublin 
was  called  upon  to  preside,  and  John 
O'Connell  moved  the  resolutions  in  a  speech 
of  several  hours'  duration.  Mitchel  replied 
with  even  more  ability  and  closeness  of 
argument  than  on  the  former  occasion,  and 
Meagher  delivered  his  famous  speech  on 
"The  SAVord,"  which  is  now,  and  long  will 
be,  we  hope,  a  favorite  piece  of  declamation 
with  the  rising  generation.  He  was  inter- 
rupted by  John  O'Connell,  who  impertinent- 
ly remarked  that  "  it  was  the  strongest  con- 
viction of  his  soul  that  it  would  not  be  safe 
for  the  Association  to  allow  Mr.  Meagher  to 
proceed.  He  had  no  puzzle  whatever  in  say- 
ing that  the  language  of  Mr.  Meagher  was 
not  language  that  could  safely  be  listened 
to  by  the  Association — that  the  sentiments 
were  sentiments  directly  and  diametrically 
opposed  to  the  sentiments  of  that  Associa- 
tion— and  that,  therefore,  the  Association 
must  cease  to  exist,  or  Mr.  Meagher  cease 
to  be  a  member  of  it."  In  answer  to  this 
uncalled  for  decision,  O'Brien,  with  his 
characteristic  dignity  and  forbearance,  said  : 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  195 

"  He  could  not  allow  tlie  meeting  to  come  to  such  a 
conclusion  without  expressing  his  opinion  that  the 
course  of  ai'gument  adopted  by  Mr.  Meagher  was  per- 
fectly fair  and  legitimate.  He  understood  they  were 
invited  to  come  there  that  day  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
sidering deliberately  whether  any  gentleman  could  con- 
tinue to  be  a  member  of  the  Association,  who  enter- 
tained the  opinion,  conscientiously,  that  there  were  oc- 
casions which  justified  a  nation  in  resorting  to  the  sword 
for  the  vindication  of  its  liberties.  Mr.  Meagher  had 
distinctly  stated  that  he  had  joined  the  Association  for 
the  purpose  of  obtaining  Repeal  by  peaceful  and  moral 
means  alone.  But  he  does  not  consider,  nor  did  he  (Mr. 
O'Brien)  consider  that,  when  they  were  invited  to  a  dis- 
cussion of  that  description,  they  were  precluded  from 
asserting  the  opinion,  w^hich,  after  all,  was  involved  in 
the  discussion,  and  fi^om  submitting  such  reasons,  as 
they  felt  themselves  at  liberty  to  submit  to  their  fellow- 
countrymen,  in  vindication  of  the  opinions  which  had 
been  arraigned. " 

But  Jolm  O'Connell  had  resolved  to  reap 
the  crop  of  dissension  which  he  and  others 
had  so  laboriously  sown,  and,  still  insisting 
that  Meagher's  words  were  illegal  and  dan- 
gerous, declared  that  either  he  or  that  gentle- 
man should  leave  the  hall.  The  audience 
were  divided ;  the  younger  and  more  en- 
thusiastic were  with  O'Brien  and  Meagher, 


19G  THE  MEN  OF   '48. 

tlie  older,  more  timid,  or  more  venal,  with 
the  moral-force  advocates.  The  result  was 
that  the  ''  Seceders,"  as  they  were  styled, 
with  a  large  portion  of  the  meeting,  left 
Conciliation  Hall  never  to  return,  and  the 
once  great  Repeal  movement  received  a 
blow  from  w^hich  it  never  recovered. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

O'Brien'3  account  of  the  secession — Attempts  at  a  rec- 
onciliation— The  Old  Irehinders  in  favor  of  place-taking 
— The  Dublin  remonstrants — Thomas  D'Arcy  McGee — 
Position  of  the  Nation— Y^^hig  treachery — O'Connell  in 
parliament  -Progress  of  the  famine. 

O'Brien,  who  had  not  taken  any  promi- 
nent part  in  the  previous  discussion  of  the 
loth  of  July  on  the  Whig  alliance,  the 
Nation^  or  the  peace  resolutions,  was  yet 
considered  as  in  some  manner  the  leader  of 
the  secessionists,  principally  from  his  high 
social  standing,  mature  years,  large  experi- 
ence of  public  affairs,  and  natural  gravity  of 
character.  In  a  letter  addressed  by  him  to 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Miley,  December,  1846,  he  thus 
recounts,  in  a  calm,  dispassionate  manner, 
the  causes  of  the  division  in  the  Association, 
so  disastrous  to  Irish  hopes  and  aspira- 
tions : 

"Negotiations  were  opened  between  Mr.  O'Connell 
and  the  Whigs  at  Cbesham  Place.  ^  Young  Ireland ' 
protested,  in  the  strongest  terms,  against  an  alliance 
with  the  Whigs.     Mr.  O'Connell  took  offence  at  the 


198  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

languao'e  used  by  Mr.  Meaglier  and  otliers.  When  I 
arrived  in  Dublin,  after  the  resignation  of  Sir  Robert 
Peel,  I  learned  tha  the  contemplated  a  rupture  with 
the  writers  of  the  Nation.  Before  I  went  to  the 
county  of  Clare,  I  communicated,  through  Mr.  Ray,  a 
special  message  to  Mr.  O'Connell,  who  was  then  absent 
from  Dublin,  to  the  effect  that,  though  I  was  most  anx- 
ious to  preserve  a  neutral  position,  I  could  not  silently 
acquiesce  in  any  attempt  to  expel  the  Nation  or  its 
party  from  the  Association.  Next  came  the  Dungarvan 
election,  and  the  new  '  moral  force '  resolutions.  I  felt 
it  my  duty  to  protest  against  both  at  the  Kilrush  dinner. 
Upon  my  returning  to  Dublin  I  found  a  public  letter 
from  Mr.  O'Connell,  formally  denouncing  the  Nation, 
and  no  alternative  was  left  me  but  to  declare  that,  if 
that  letter  were  acted  upon,  I  could  not  cooperate  any 
longer  with  the  Repeal  Association.  The  celebrated 
two-day  debate  then  took  place.  Mr.  J.  O'Connell 
opened  an  attack  upon  the  Nation  and  upon  its  adhe- 
rents. Mr.  Mitchel  and  Mr.  Meagher  defended  them- 
selves in  language  which,  it  seemed  to  me,  did  not 
transo-ress  the  bounds  of  decorum  or  of  leg-sd  safetv.  Mr. 
John  O'Connell  interrupted  Mr.  Meagher  in  his  speech, 
and  declared  that  he  could  not  allow  him  to  proceed 
with  the  line  of  argument  necessary  to  sustain  the  prin- 
ciples which  had  been  arraigned.  I  protested  £igainst 
this  interruption.  Mr.  J.  O'Connell  then  gave  me  to 
understand  that,  unless  Mr.  Meagher  desisted,  he  must 
leave  the  hall.  I  could  not  acquiesce  in  this  attempt 
to  stifle  a  fair  discussion,  and  sooner  than  witness  the 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  199 

departure  of  Mr.  J.  O'Connell  from  an  association  found- 
ed by  his  father,  I  preferred  to  leave  the  assembly. 

"  Soon  after  this  occurrence  I  intimated  to  Mr.  O'Con- 
nell,  by  a  private  message,  conveyed  through  his  son, 
my  readiness  to  assist  in  bringing  about  an  accommoda- 
tion, in  case  he  felt  disposed  to  change  his  conduct  with 
respect  to  the  Young  Ireland  party.  He  preferred  to 
proceed  in  a  career,  of  which  we  have  since  w^itnessed 
the  full  development.  He  induced  the  committee  to 
stop  the  circulation  of  the  Nation.  Having  failed  to 
ruin  the  property  of  Mr.  Charles  Gavan  Duffy  (whom 
I  believe  to  be  not  only  one  of  the  ablest  men  in  this 
kingdom,  but  also  one  of  the  most  virtuous),  lie  next 
aiTaigned  him  as  guilty  of  high-treason  by  a  formal 
indictment,  which  was  sustained  bv  neither  leg-al  nor  con- 
stitutional  argument,  but  was  marked  by  all  the  per- 
verted ingenuity  of  a  crafty  attorney -general.  He  has 
since  endeavored  by  most  ungenerous  means  to  fix 
upon  Mr.  Duffy,  and  upon  his  friends,  the  charge  of 
infidelity  in  regard  to  religious  belief." 

Such  was  the  forbearance  exercised  by 
O'Brien  and  his  associates  upon  being  actu- 
ally expelled  from  an  association  they  had 
helped  so  much  to  extend  and  foster,  by  their 
example  and  unceasing  teachings.  The 
country  was  at  first  shocked  and  then 
stupefied  by  the  loss  of  so  many  able  and 
uncompromising  advocates.     At  the  begin- 


200  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

ning,  it  was  hoped  that  the  breach  might 
be  closed,  and  an  unsuccessful  attempt  was 
even  made  by  a  few  distinguished  clerics 
and  lay  gentlemen  to  heal  the  wound  which 
the  national  cause  had  received,  but  in 
vain  ;  the  faction  who  held  possession  of  the 
hall,  its  records,  and  funds,  were  resolved 
that  they  should  rule  or  ruin.  Week  after 
week,  and  day  after  day,  the  foulest  epithets 
were  applied,  from  the  platform,  and  through 
the  Whig- Repeal  newspapers,  to  the  se- 
ceders.  They  were  called  blasphemous, 
infidel,  and  revolutionary,  and  the  very 
worst  passions  of  the  low  Dublin  mob  were 
continually  excited  against  them  individ- 
ually and  collectively.  Even  O'Connell 
so  far  forgot  his  ancient  dignity  and  love 
of  fair  play  as  to  attempt  to  hold  them  up 
to  ridicule.  He  did  more ;  he  sought  to 
undermine  the  independence  and  vitiate  the 
opinions  of  those  of  any  note  who  continued 
to  take  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Asso- 
ciation, by  placing  before  their  eyes,  as  a 
reward  for  their  ser\dlity  and  debasement, 
the  hope  of  government  patronage.    "  There 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  201 

were,"  he  said,  at  tlie  meeting  subsequent 
to  the  secession,  "  a  great  many  young 
men  of  talent — Repealers  in  principle — 
who  were  afraid  to  join  the  Association 
lest  they  should  thereby  deprive  them- 
selves of  the  chance  of  obtaining  the  honors 
and  dignities  of  their  professions.  I  am 
happy  to  be  able  to  say  that  I  have  reason 
to  know  it  is  the  opinion  of  Lord  Besbor- 
ough  (Whig  Lord  Lieutenant),  that  the  fact 
of  a  man's  being  a  Repealer  is  no  reason  at 
all  for  excluding  him  from  office."  And  to 
make  the  information  more  explicit  and 
pointed,  he  added :  "  Young  Ireland  stands 
up  and  opposes  those  who  take  office  under 
the  government,  by  calling  them  ^apos- 
tates.' " 

Pending  negotiations  between  the  Young 
and  Old  Ireland  parties,  which  were  initiated 
and  conducted  mainly  by  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Miley,  a  learned  priest,  and  an  Irishman  of 
sincere  but  moderate  views,  but  which 
proved  to  be  an  utter  failure,  a  number  of 
citizens  of  Dublin,  old  members  of  the  Re- 
peal organization,  associated  themselves  to- 


202  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

getlier  under  tlie  title  of  Eemoiistrants,  for 
tlie  purpose  of  assisting  the  self-imposed 
task  of  Dr.  Miley,  as  well  as  to  sliow  the 
malcontents  of  Conciliation  Hall  that  the 
mass  of  the  intelligent  men  of  the  capital 
had  no  sympathy  with  the  arbitrary  course 
pursued  by  John  O'Connell  and  his  sup- 
porters. They  were  composed  principally 
of  shopkeepers  and  young  mechanics — the 
most  respectable  of  their  class  in  the  city — 
and  were  headed  by  Martin  Crean,  Joseph 
Hollywood,  Halpin,  Barry,  and  others.  Af- 
ter a  few  weeks  spent  in  quietly  canvassing 
the  opinions  of  their  fellow-workmen,  they 
drew  up  a  respectful  remonstrance  against 
the  unwarrantable  action  of  the  Old  Ireland 
faction  and  the  expulsion  of  O'Brien  and 
his  friends,  and  having  presented  it  in  form 
on  the  24th  of  October,  it  was  ordered  by 
John  O'Connell  not  only  to  be  rejected,  but 
to  be  cast  literally  into  the  gutter.  The 
two  thousand  men  who  had  signed  the 
document  felt  indignant  at  this  treatment, 
as  did,  indeed,  the  genei^al  public,  so  they 
resolved   to  hold  a  public  meeting  in  the 


THE  MEN  OF  -48.  '203 

Eotuiido  to  express  their  indignation  at  the 
insult. 

The  meeting  took  place  on  the  3d  of 
November,  and  was  very  largely  attended. 
Some  signs  of  opposition  were  shown  by  the 
mob,  composed  chiefly  of  coal-porters,  and 
attempts  were  made  to  force  in  the  doors 
and  break  up  the  assembly  by  sheer  vio- 
lence, but  the  tradesmen  inside  quickly 
dispersed  then-  "moral  force"  assailants. 
The  principal  speaker  on  that  occasion 
was  a  young  man  whose  name  had  been 
hitherto  unknown  in  Irish  politics,  Thomas 
D'Arcy  McGee,  but  who,  though  only  in 
Ids  twenty-second  year,  had  acquired  con- 
siderable reputation  as  a  writer  and  orator 
at  this  side  of  the  Atlantic.  Mr.  McGee 
was  a  native  of  Carlingford,  in  the  county 
of  Louth,  where  he  was  born  on  the  13th 
of  April,  1825,  though  most  of  his  boyhood 
was  spent  in  Wexford  amid  those  historic 
scenes  of  that  county  which  have  long  been 
celebrated  in  Irish  history.  When  seven- 
teen years  old  he  emigrated  to  the  United 
States,  and,  settling  in  Boston,  became  con- 


THE  MEN  OF  '48. 


itected  with  the  Filot^  first,  in  a  subordinate 
capacity,  and,  next,  as  editor.  In  this  latter 
capacity  he  had  many  occasions  for  study- 
ing from  a  distance  and  with  perfect  imparti- 
ality the  workings  of  the  Repeal  Association, 
pmd  the  drift  of  the  younger  and  more  reso- 
lute elements  in  the  organization.  The  Pilot^ 
then  the  only  Irish  Catholic  journal  of  any 
note  published  in  the  eastern  portion  of  the 
United  States,  was,  as  it  still  is,  one  of  the 
most  popular  and  widely  circulated  of  the 
weekly  press  ;  and  being  frequently  quoted 
abroad  on  Irish-American  subjects,  its  arti- 
cles generally  attracted  much  attention  in 
Ireland.  After  the  imprisonment  and  liber- 
ation of  O'Connell,  its  editor,  Mr.  McGee, 
was  invited  by  Doctor,  now  Sir  John  Gray, 
of  the  Daily  Freeman^ s  Journal j  to  take  a  posi- 
tion on  his  editorial  staff.  In  1845,  Mr. 
McGee,  being  naturally  anxious  to  return 
home,  accepted  the  invitation,  and  for  nearly 
a  year  acted  as  special  London  correspond- 
ent of  the  Freeman.  While  in  the  English 
capital  the  news  reached  him  of  the  dis- 
ruption in  Conciliation   Hall;    and  as  the 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  205 

Freeman  appeared  to  take  sides  with  the 
Old  Irelanders,  lie  cancelled  his  engagement, 
and,  returning  to  Dublin,  became  one  of 
the  editors  of  the  Nation. 

The  tlii'ee  years  he  had  spent  in  this 
country,  his  indefatigable  labors  in  every 
part  of  New  England  to  establish  auxiliary 
Repeal  Societies,  and  his  practical  acquaint- 
ance wdth  the  workings  of  our  republican 
system,  as  well  as  his  subsequent  knowl- 
edge of  parliamentary  affairs  acquired  as 
London  correspondent,  fitted  him  admira- 
bly for  the  position  of  spokesman  of  the  Re- 
monstrants ;  and  as  he  had  taken  no  part 
whatever  in  the  previous  discussions  in  the 
Associations,  his  mind  could  not  be  sup- 
posed to  be  warped  by  any  of  the  personal 
feeling  or  local  jealousy  so  apparent  in  the 
sti'uggles  of  the  rival  Repeal  parties.  The 
meeting  was  a  success;  and  the  citizens,  re- 
covered from  the  onslauo-ht  made  on  their 
rights  in  the  talismanic  name  of  their  great 
chief,  began  to  breathe  more  freely.  The 
awe,  the  spell,  that  still  hung  round  the 
very  name  of  O'Connell,   was  dissipated, 


20G  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

and  it  was  then  and  there  determmed  that 
if  the  Old  Irelanders  would  not  abandon 
their  absurd  Quaker  doctrines,  and  more 
criminal  subserviency  to  the  Whigs,  a  new 
national  organization  should  be  founded  to 
continue  the  agitation,  on  the  original  basis 
of  no  compromise  with  the  enemies  of  the 
country  till  the  demands  of  the  people  for  a 
domestic  legislature  were  conceded. 

To  carry  out  this  design,  all  hope  of  a 
reconciliation  having  failed,  a  second  meet- 
ing w^as  held  on  the  2d  of  December. 
The  Round  Room  of  the  Rotundo  was  at  an 
early  hour  filled  with  men  and  women  of  the 
very  best  classes  in  society — solid  traders, 
skilled  mechanics,  enthusiastic  students,  and 
professional  men  of  all  ages  and  degrees. 
The  leading  seceders  were  escorted  to  the 
hall  by  platoons  of  working  men,  for  so  rife 
was  the  spirit  of  violence  among  the  mob, 
instigated  thereto  by  the  advocates  of  moral 
suasion,  that  it  was  feared,  and  not  without 
reason,  that  freedom  of  speech  was  not  only 
not  to  be  tolerated  in  Conciliation  Hall,  but 
in  every  part  of  the  metropolis  where  the 


THE  ME^  OF  '48.  207 

rowdies  of  Burgh  Quay  held  sway.  All  the 
leaders  of  the  Young  Ireland  party  then  in 
the  city  attended,  and  most  of  them,  as  well 
as  the  representative  of  the  Remonstrants, 
addressed  the  assemblage,  and  amid  the 
w^armest  greetings  vindicated  their  past 
course  in  calm,  firm,  and  well  chosen  terms. 
The  previous  suggestion  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  permanent  organization  was  also 
presented  to  this  meeting,  and,  on  being 
favorably  received,  a  day  was  set  apart  for 
the  formation  of  a  new  Eepeal  Society. 

From  the  expulsion  of  the  Young  Ire- 
landers  from  the  Repeal  Association,  and 
the  vhtual  condemnation  of  their  organ,  the 
Nation^  by  O'Connell  and  those  who  agreed 
with  him,  the  course  of  that  remarkable 
newspaper  was  singularly  dignified,  candid, 
and  manly.  It  was  even  conciliatory,  as 
far  as  was  consistent  with  the  advocacy  of 
its  principles,  towards  its  most  virulent 
enemies.  It  met  slanders  and  falsehoods 
of  the  deepest  dye  with  short  notice  or  con- 
temptuous silence  ;  but  when  anything  like 
argument  was  adduced  against  it,  it  replied 


208  THE  MFN  OF  '48. 

in  the  best  of  temper,  and  witli  a  force  of 
logic  so  overwhelming",  that  it  seldom  be- 
came necessary  to  refer  a  second  time  to 
any  one  charge  advanced  against  it  The 
hostility  of  O'Connell  and  the  calumnies 
of  the  place-hunters  had  succeeded  in  re- 
ducing its  subscription  list,  j^erhaps  a  hun- 
dred per  cent  at  first,  but  this  loss  was 
partly  made  good  by  the  patronage  of  a 
middle  class  of  Irishmen,  who,  while  they 
loved  their  country  and  desired  legislative 
independence  for  her,  could  never  brook 
the  absolutism  and  assumption  which  cliar- 
acterized  a  few  of  the  leaders  of  the  Associ- 
ation. 

Charles  Gavan  Duffy,  who  was  from  its 
commencement  the  editor-in-chief,  was  nov/ 
also  the  principal  proprietor  of  the  paper ; 
John  Mitchel,  one  of  its  most  forcible  and 
trenchant  writers,  ranked  next  in  point  of 
seniority,  and  then  followed  Thomas  Devon 
Eeilly  and  Thomas  D'Arc}^  McGee,  each  in 
his  way  gifted  with  peculiar  and  remarkable 
talents  as  a  journalist.  Of  these  four,  Reiily 
is  the  least  known ;  partly  from  the  collapse 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  209 

of  tlie  YoiiRf^  Ireland  movement,  but  mainly 
from  his  untimely  death,  which  took  place  in 
this  country  several  years  ago,  before  he 
had  reached  the  vears  of  mid-life.  He  was, 
nevertheless,  an  accomplished  and  facile 
writer,  more  solid  than  brilliant,  and  less 
likely  to  be  carried  away  by  poetic  imag- 
inings and  mere  word-painting  than  many 
of  his  contemporaries.  He  had  been  a  neigh- 
bor of  Duffy's  in  his  boyhood,  and  in  his 
maturity  he  enjoyed  for  a  long  time  the 
confidence  and  esteem  of  that  patient  cul- 
tivator of  young  genius,  and  profound  mas- 
ter of  the  pen. 

The,  contributors  to  the  columns  of  the 
Nation  at  that  period  were  legion,  and  in- 
cluded such  names  as  those  of  Miss  Elgee 
(^' Speranza"),  now  Lad}^  Wilde;  '^  Eva," 
Mrs.  Dr.  Callan ;  R  D.  Wilhams  (''Sham- 
rock") ;  Denis  Florence  McCarthy  (''  Des- 
mond") ;  James  Clarence  Mangan  (''  TeiTe 
Filius"  and  ''  J.  C.  M.") ;  Daids  Q'  The  Belfast 
Man")  ;  J.  de  J.  Frazer,  Meagher,  O'Gor- 
man.  Dr.  Kane  of  Kilkenny,  Rev.  C.  P. 
Meehan,  J.  B.  Dillon,  McDermott,  Samuel 


210  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

Ferguson,  Pigot,  and  a  host  of  others,  who, 
in  poetry  or  prose,  all  aimed  at  the  same 
object — the  elevation  of  the  Irisli  race  from 
the  slough  of  mental  as  well  as  physical 
bondage,  and  the  regeneration  of  their  coun- 
try, by  teaching  its  sons  how  to  win  and 
deserve  freedom.  ''  To  create  and  to  foster 
a  public  opinion  in  Ireland,  and  to  make  it 
racy  of  the  soil,"  was  the  motto  chosen  for 
the  first  number  of  the  paper,  and  never  did 
one  publication  in  the  English,  or  any  other 
language,  gather  around  it,  to  execute  its 
designs,  so  much  rare  ability,  genuine  merit, 
and  lofty  national  spirit.  Easily  flinging 
from  its  skirts,  as  unworthy  of  serious  no- 
tice, the  filth  that  was  thrown  at  it  by  the 
Castle  hirelings  in  and  out  of  Conciliation 
Hall,  it  continued  each  successive  week  to 
pour  its  broadsides  into  that  corrupt  amal- 
gamation of  cheats  and  frauds  called  the  Lib- 
eral party,  wdiile  its  appeals  to  the  national- 
ists, its  reports  and  reviews  on  Irish  indiis- 
try  and  Hterature,  its  sweet  songs  and  his- 
torical ballads,  found  their  way  into  every 
Irish  household,  and  rekindled  the  smoulder- 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  211 

ing  fires  of  patriotism  wliicli  liad  wellnigh 
been  extinguislied  by  the  cowardice  and 
subserviency  of  the  underlings  of  the  Asso- 
ciation. 

But  there  was  an  enemy  in  Ireland,  and 
that,  too,  under  the  special  patronage  of  the 
British  government,  against  which  tlie 
Nation  and  its  brilliant  phalanx  were  power- 
less,— the  Famine.  Like  a  terrible  pall,  it 
spread  over  the  entire  face  of  the  land, 
carrying  destruction,  disease,  and  death  to 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  households.  The 
very  atmosphere  seemed  poisoned  witli  its 
breath ;  and  the  healthful  saline  breezes 
that  blow  in  on  its  shores  from  the  west, 
appeared  to  be  overladen  with  pestilence 
the  moment  they  touched  the  mountains  or 
descended  into  the  valleys.  In  the  midst 
of  plenty,  for  the  grain  crop  and  the  dairy 
produce  were  never  more  prosperous  than 
in  the  autumn  of  1846,  the  people  were 
dying  by  scores,  by  hundreds,  and  by  thou- 
sands, on  their  cold  hearths,  in  the  bleak 
fields,  and  by  the  roadside. 

But  it  may  be  said.  What  did  the  liberal 


212  THP]  MEN  OF  MS. 

Whigs  do  to  alleviate  this  fearful  calamity,  to 
stay  this  tide  of  woe  and  national  disaster! 
They  had  promised  justice  to  Ireland ; 
and  O'Connell,  in  order  to  give  them  an- 
other trial,  had  virtually  abandoned  his  agi- 
tation, and  had  driven  from  the  Repeal  ranks 
all  who  were  manly  and  uncompromising 
among  his  supporters.  Did  they  keep  their 
covenant  and  arrest  the  progress  of  the  fam- 
ine 1  On  the  contrary,  they  encouraged  it, 
helped  it  along,  in  fact,-  and,  with  an  inge- 
nuity truly  diabolical,  used  the  very  means 
provided  for  the  relief  of  the  Irish,  for  the 
purpose  of  extirpation  or  total  destruction. 
Before  the  crimes  of  that  sleek,  smooth- 
spoken, treacherous  English  party,  the 
atrocities  of  the  Red  Earl,  Sydney,  Mont- 
joy,  and  Cromwell,  pale  their  ineffectual 
fires,  and  become  in  Irish  history  mere 
trifles  either  in  deliberation  of  purpose  or 
worse  than  savageness  of  execution. 

The  last  appearance  of  O'Connell  in  Par- 
liament was  in  January,  1847.  Broken  down 
in  health,  sickened  and  disappointed  at  the 
awful  state  of  his  country,  he  rosetotteringly 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  ')  1 


-  1  <> 


in  his  seat,  and  with  feeble,  but  still  patlietic 
accents  implored  the  imperial  legislature  to 
interpose  and  stay  the  tide  of  Irish  famine  ; 
but  in  vain.  His  power  was  gone,  his 
strength  was  sped.  His  locks  had  been 
shorn  by  the  \Yhig  Delilah,  and  he  had 
become  a  subject  of  brutal  mirth  to  the 
modern  Pliilistines.  The  party  for  whose 
friendship  he  had  bartered  the  love  and 
confidence  of  so  many  of  his  gifted  country- 
men, and  for  whom  he  had  turned  his  back 
on  tlie  glorious  history  of  the  past,  treated 
his  appeals  and  demands  with  equal  scorn 
— till,  thoroughly  overcome  by  their  base 
treachery;  he  vanished  from  the  House  of 
Commons,  so  long  the  scene  of  his  conten- 
tious victories,  and  returned  no  more. 

To  keep  up  the  illusion  of  charitableness, 
however,  the  party  in  authority  voted  fifty 
thousand  pounds  to  be  expended  in  the  most 
plague-stricken  districts,  and  passed  what  was 
called  a  Labor-Rate  act.  By  this  cunning  de- 
vice money  was  to  be  raised  by  the  imposition 
of  a  new  and  additional  tax  on  each  Poor 
Law  disti'ict ;  but,  instead  of  being  expended 


214  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

by  tlie  local  authorities,  it  was  to  be  con- 
trolled by  tlie  government,  which  means  by 
its  officials,  most  of  whom  were  sent  over 
from  England,  totally  ignorant  of  the  wants 
of  the  people,  and  whose  salaries  ate  up  more 
than  half  of  what  was  levied  on  the  countr}^. 
No  better  plan  could  have  been  adopted  to 
increase  pauperism  and  to  utterly  ruin  the 
small  farmers,  who,  unable  to  pay  the  ex- 
cessive tax,  were  obliged  to  abandon  their 
little  forms,  seek  refuge  in  emigration,  or 
descend  to  the  rank  of  beggars,  and  thus 
increase  the  mass  of  destitution  and  disease 
that  prevailed  throughout.  ^'It  is  enough 
to  say,"  says  Mr.  Mitch  el,  ''that  in  this 
year,  1846,  not  less  than  three  hundred 
thousand  23erislied,  either  of  mere  hunger, 
or  of  typhus  fever  caused  by  hunger." 

No  powers  of  description,  no  imagination, 
no  matter  how  inventive,  no  words,  nor  com- 
bination of  words,  can  adequately  convey 
the  faintest  impression  of  the  unheard-of 
suffering  endured  by  the  Irish  people  at 
that  time.  The  most  callous  mind,  the 
greatest  stoic,  cannot  but  turn  away  from 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  215 

the  mere  mention  of  the  loatlisoine  effect 
produced  by  famine  and  fever  combined. 
Here  is  an  account  of  Skibbereen,  wliicli 
might  with  equal  truth  have  been  apphed 
to  many  other  locaKties,  taken  from  a 
letter  addressed  to  the  Duke  of  Wellino-ton 
by  N.  M.  Cummins,  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
in  December,  1846. 

"  I  accordingly  went,  on  tbe  }5ih,  to  Skibbereen,  and 
to  give  tlie  instance  of  one  townland  wliicli  I  visited, 
as  an  example  of  the  state  of  tbe  entire  coast  district,  I 
shall  state  simply  what  I  there  saw.  It  is  situated  on 
the  eastern  side  of  Castlehaven  Harbor,  and  is  named , 
South  Keen,  in  the  parish  of  Mycross.  Being  aware 
that  I  should  have  to  witness  scenes  of  fn'o^htful  hunger, 
I  provided  myself  with  as  much  bread  as  five  men  could 
cany,  and  on  reaching  the  spot  I  was  surprised  to  find 
the  wretched  hamlets  apparently  deserted.  I  entered 
some  of  the  hovels  to  ascertain  the  cause,  and  the 
scenes  that  presented  themselves  were  such  as  no  tongue 
or  pen  can  convey  the  slightest  idea  of.  In  the  first,  six 
famished  and  ghcstly  skeletons,  to  all  appearance  dead, 
were  huddled  on  some  filthy  straw,  their  sole  coveiing 
what  seemed  a  ragged  horse-cloth,  their  wretched  legs 
hanging  about,  naked  above  the  knees.  I  approached 
in  horror,  and  found,  by  a  low  moaning,  that  they 
were  alive — they  were  in  fever:  four  children,  a 
woman,  and  what  had  once  been  a  man.     It   is  im- 


216  THE  MEN  OF '48. 

possible  to  go  tlirough  the  detail ;  suffice  it  to  say  that, 
in  a  few  minutes,  I  was  surrounded  by  at  least  two  hun- 
dred of  such  phantoms,  such  frightful  spectres  as  no 
words  can  describe.  By  far  the  greater  number  were  de- 
lirious, either  from  famine  or  from  fever.  Their  demo- 
niac yells  are  still  ringing  in  my  ears,  and  their  horrible 
images  are  fixed  upon  my  brain.  My  heart  sickens  at 
the  recital,  but  I  must  go  on. 

'^  In  another  case  decency  would  forbid  what  follows, 
but  it  must  be  told.  My  clothes  were  nearly  torn  ofiF  in 
my  endeavor  to  escape  from  the  throng  of  pestilence 
around,  when  my  neck-cloth  was  seized  from  behind  by 
a  grip  that  compelled  me  to  turn.  I  found  myself 
grasped  by  a  woman,  with  an  infant,  apparently  just 
born,  in  her  arms,  and  the  remains  of  a  filthy  sack  across 
her  loins — the  sole  covering  of  herself  and  babe.  The 
same  morning  the  police  opened  a  house  on  the  adjoining 
lands,  which  was  observed  shut  for  many  days,  and  two 
frozen  corpses  were  found,  lying  upon  the  mud.  floor, 
half  devoured  by  the  rats. 

"A  mother,  herself  in  fever,  was  seen  the  same  day 
to  drag  out  the  corpse  of  her  child,  a  girl  about  twelve, 
perfectly  naked,  and  leave  it  half-covered  with  stones. 
In  another  house  within  five  hundred  yards  of  the  cav- 
alry station  at  Skibbereen,  the  dispensary  doctor  found 
seven  wretches  lying,  unable  to  move,  under  the  same 
cloak.  One  had  been  dead  many  hom's,  but  the  others 
were  unable  to  remove  either  themselves  or  the  corpse.'^ 

Such  is  the  horrible  picture  as  sketched 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  217 

by  no  less  a  personage  than  a  liigli  local 
official  of  tlie  government — the  paternal  gov- 
ernment of  England — whose  sympathies  for 
Ireland  were  so  much  vannted  by  the  rec- 
reants of  Conciliation  Hall,  and  for  con- 
demning whom,  the  "juvenile  members" 
were  accused  of  endeavoring  to  sow  dissen- 
sion and  of  provoking  disunion. 


CHAPTER  X. 

Attemj^ts  at  reunion — John  B.  Dillon — The  Irish  Con- 
federation— Its  organization  and  aims — The  Galway  elec- 
tion— More  overtures  for  union — Charles  Gavan  Duffy — 
— Rev,  C.  P.  Meehan. 

The  latter  half  of  the  year  1846  was 
spent  by  the  expelled  members  of  the  Re- 
peal Association  in  various  ways  which  they 
individually  considered  the  mdst  likely  to 
keep  alive  the  spirit  of  Irish  patriotism,  and 
to  save  it  fi-om  sinking  beneath  the  triple 
weight  of  Whig  misgovernment :  Repeal, 
sycophancy,  and  the  famine.  Still,  the  hope 
of  a  reorganization  of  the  Association 
was  not  altogether  abandoned.  O'Brien 
published  several  letters  on  the  subject,  ex- 
hibiting great  good  sense  and  moderation, 
and,  pending  the  result  of  Dr.  Miley's  nego- 
tiation, he  recommended  the  formation  of 
a  literary  society  for  the  promulgation  of 
thoroughly  national  opinions  and  general 
intelligence  on  Irish  subjects,  each  member 
to   take   up  a   special   topic   for   his   task. 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  219 

Consistently  with  liis  own  suggestion,  lie 
111  111  self  took  up  tliat  of  Land  Tenure,  and 
treated  it  in  a  very  masterly  manner. 

John  B.  Dillon,  one  of  the  original 
founders  of  the  Nation^  but  at  that  time  a 
practising  barrister  of  high  repute,  also 
published  a  letter  in  the  metropolitan  press, 
advocating  a  reunion  of  the  dissevered 
elements.  Amono"  other  reasons  adduced 
by  him  why  this  should  be  effected  at  once, 
were  the  following : 

^'  The  position  in  wliicli  tlie  country  is  now  placed 
presents  to  the  Repeal  leaders  a  noble  opportunity  of 
pushing  forward  the  Repeal  cause,  by  giving  practical 
demonstration  of  the  utility  of  home  legislation.  The 
whole  people  of  Ireland  are  at  length  united  in  one 
sentiment — dissatisfaction  with  things  as  they  are,  and 
a  desire  for  change.  Tlie  landlords,  in  terror  for  their 
estates,  are  compelled,  in  self-defence,  to  consider  the 
condition  and  necessities  of  the  country,  and  are  pre- 
pared to  enter  on  any  safe  and  honorable  coui'se  that 
leads  out  of  the  difficulties  which  surround  them.  If  the 
committee  of  the  Association  could  noiv  stand  before  the 
country  as  the  instructors  of  tlie  English  government — 
if  it  possessed  wisdom  to  originate  useful  measures,  and 
influence  to  compel  their  adoption,  the  advantages  of 
self-government  would  be  made  plain    to   all,  and    de- 


220  I^HE  MEN  OF  '48. 

ceiicy  itself  would  compel  our  EnglisK  rulers  to  al)andou 
duties  wliich  tliey  discharged  under  the  guidance  of 
others.  This,  my  dear  sir,  I  take  to  be  the  rationale  of 
^  moral  force.'  To  seek  for  change  by  moral  force  is  not 
to  sljout  for  it,  but  to  demonstrate  its  utility.  And  the 
only  way  to  demonstrate  the  utility  of  Repeal  is,  by  show- 
ino^  that  we  can  do  our  own  business  better  than  others 
can  do  it  for  us." 

But  the  Old  Irelanders  were  beyond  con- 
viction or  the  reach  of  appeals ;  and  to  the 
fair  and  candid  approaches  of  the  national- 
ists they  returned  nothing  but  personal  and 
vulgar  abuse,  mixed  with  a  sort  of  sancti- 
monious cant  in  which  John  O'Connell,  and 
such  thoroughly  debased  men  as  Robert 
Dillon  Brown,  Sommers,  Reynolds,  Costel- 
loe,  and  others,  of  neither  private  nor  public 
character,  who  now  occupied  each  week 
the  platform  of  Conciliation  Hall,  were  ex- 
perts. The  inhuman  policy  of  the  Whigs, 
the  groans  of  millions  of  their  starving 
countrymen  could  not  move  tliem  from 
their  schemes  of  ruin,  nor  stay  their  thirst 
for  office.  They  went  headlong  to  their 
own,  and,  unfortunately,  to  the  nation's, 
destruction. 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  221 

No  other  course  being  left,  the  seceders 
resolved  to  form  a  new  organization  and 
endeavor  to  revise  the  sinking  cause  of  na- 
tional independence.  The  loth  of  January, 
1847,  was  the  day  chosen  for  the  first  meet- 
ing ;  and  on  that  occasion  the  large  room  of 
the  Rotundo  was  crowded  to  its  ultimate 
capacity  by  gentlemen  and  ladies,  the  in- 
telligent mechanics  of  the  city,  and  profes- 
sional men  from  all  parts  of  the  country. 
About  a  hundred  of  the  principal  movers 
in  the  matter  occupied  the  platform, 
amongst  whom  were  O'Brien,  O'Gorman,  Sr., 
O'Gorman,  Jr., Captain  Bryan,  Major  Talbot, 
Lawlor,  Duffy,  Martin,  McGee,  Mitchel, 
G'Hagan,  Meagher,  Reilly,  Taaffe,  Dillon, 
Haughton,  Barry,  McCarthy,  McManus, 
O'Callaghan,  Doheny,  Crean,  etc.  John 
Shea  Lawlor  occupied  the  chair ;  Duffy 
and  Dillon  acting  as  secretaries. 

O'Brien  was  the  first  and  principal  speak- 
er. He  dwelt  at  considerable  length  and  with 
great  emphasis  on  all  the  circumstances 
which  had  preceded,  accompanied,  and  fol- 
lowed the  retirement  of  himself  and  friends 


222  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

from  Conciliation  Hall.  Passing  to  tlie  ob- 
jects to  be  attained  by  the  new  organization 
about  to  be  formed,  he  said  : — 

"  Our  object  will  be  to  combine  every  section  and 
class  of  the  Irish  people  in  one  united  eflbrt  to  obtain 
the  legislative  independence  of  Ireland.  From  the  hour 
I  joined  the  Repeal  Association  to  the  present  moment, 
I  have  been  of  the  opinion,  and,  whenever  I  have  had 
the  opportunity,  I  have  delivered  that  opinion,  that  the 
repeal  of  the  Uniop  could  not  be  carried  until  there  be 
a  much  greater  union  among  classes  and  creeds  than  there 
is  at  present.  Repeal  cannot  be  earned  by  the  democ- 
racy alone,  nor  by  the  aristocracy  alone ;  but  it  can  be  car- 
ried by  the  combination  of  the  nobles,  gentry,  and  people 
of  Ireland,  and  carried  without  one  moment's  struggle. 
Well,  then,  gentlemen,  remember  it  will  be  your  solemn, 
your  important  duty,  to  prove  in  every  way  in  your  pow- 
er that  your  fellow-countrymen  may  depend  on  your 
moderation,  on  your  sense  of  justice,  on  your  toleration 
of  adverse  opinion,  whether  in  politics  or  religion,  that 
there  is  no  man  among  you  who  does  not  desire  to  sus- 
tain the  rights  of  property,  which  can  be  of  no  value  if 
not  equally  valuable  to  you  as  to  the  highest  and  wealth- 
iest member  of  society.  Deprive  men  of  the  argument 
which  is  now  used,  that  your  object  is  to  establish 
Catholic  ascendency.  Believe  me,  the  proceedings  of 
the  last  three  months  have  done  much  to  shake  that 
argument.  Is  there  one  single  advantage  that  Catholics 
could  obtain  from  Repeal,  that  Prote  stants  should  not 


THE  MEN  OF  M8.  223 

share!  For  my  part,  I  am  not  able  to  discover  sucli  an 
advantage,'  and  I  liere  declare,  what  1  have  declared 
before  at  the  hustings,  in  Limerick  and  elsewhere,  that 
if  there  Avere  to  bean  attempt  made  to  establish  Catho- 
lic ascendency,  no  man  would  more  vehemently  oppose 
tbe  attempt  than  I.  But,  gentlemen,  those  apprehen- 
sions appear  to  me,  and  ever  did,  to  be  entirely  vision- 
ary. Still  they  have  existed,  and  a  remnant  of  them 
still  exists.  Be  it  your  most  earnest  endeavor,  each  iu 
his  individual  sphere,  to  remove  those  apprehensions." 

The  speaker  concluded  his  lengthy  and 
lucid  addi'ess  by  moving  the  following 
esolutions,  which,  having  been  seconded 
hy  Michael  Joseph  Barry  of  Cork,  in  a 
very  able  speech,  were  passed  by  acclama- 
tion : — 

''  That  Domestic  Legislation  is  now,  as  it  has  been 
for  forty-six  years,  the  great  and  urgent  want,  as  well 
as  the  inalienable  right,  of  the  Irish  Nation ;  and  that 
the  helpless  and.  dependent  condition  of  Ireland,  under 
the  calamity  of  tins  present  season,  has  made  that  ne- 
cessity more  apparent  and  more  imperative. 

"■  That  circumstances  having  rendered  it  impossible  for 
us  to  cooperate,  as  members,  with  the  existing  Associa- 
tion, which  was  instituted  to  seek  this  great  national  ob- 
ject, it  becomes  our  duty  to  make  ourselves  a  separate 
sphere  of  activity,  in  which  we  may  humbly  strive  for 
our  country's  independence  in  the  way  that  seems  to  us 


224  THE  MEN  OF    '48. 

best  suited  to  attain  it.  But  we  desire  to  Lave  it  clearly 
understood  that,  in  taking  this  step,  we  disclaim  all  an- 
tagonism to  the  Association  already  in  existence,  to 
which  we  wish  success  in  every  honest  effort  it  may 
make  in  furtherance  of  Repeal. 

''  That  a  society  be  now  formed  under  the  title  of  ^  The 
Irish  Confederation,'  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  our 
national  interests  and  obtaining  the  Legislative  Inde- 
pendence of  Ireland,  by  the  force  of  opinion,  by  the 
combination  of  all  classes  of  Irishmen,  and  by  the  exer- 
cise of  all  the  political,  social,  and  moral  influence  within 
our  reach." 

Dolieny,  Meagher,  and  several  other  gen- 
tlemen spoke  on  this  occasion;  and  in 
allusion  to  the  resolution,  ^' that  the  basis 
and  essence  of '  the  Irish  Confederation'  shall 
be  absolute  independence  of  all  English 
parties ;  and  that  any  member  of  the 
Council,  accepting  or  soliciting  for  himself 
or  others  an  office  oi  emolument  under 
any  government  not  pledged  to  effect  the 
Eepeal  of  the  Union,  shall  thereupon  be 
removed  from  the  Council," — Meagher 
said  : — 

''  It  gives  me  sincere  delight  to  move  this  resolution. 
I  know  you  will  adopt  it — I  am  confident  you  will  act  up 
to  it  boldly.     Public  men  have  said  that  the  cause  of 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  225 

Repeal  is  strengthened  by  Repealers  taking  places.     I 
maintain  that  it  is  weakened.     The  system  decimates 
the  ranks.     In  1843,  where  were  the  Repealers  who  as- 
sumed the  official  garb — after  the  movement  of  1834? 
"  Repealers  occupying  office  may  not  abandon  their 
opinions,  but  they  withdraw  their  services.     It  is  impos- 
sible to  serve  two  masters.     You  cannot  serve  the  min- 
ister who  is  pledged  to  maintain  the  Union,  and  serve 
the  people  who  are  pledged  to  repeal  it.     Will  the  report 
on  the  financial  grievances,  infficted  by  the  Union,  ac- 
company a  treasury  minute  from  London  ?    Will  you  get 
a  farthing  a  week,  a  penny  a  month,  or  a  shilling  a  year 
from  the  Mint  ?    Will   a  Repeal  pamphlet  issue  from  the 
Board   of  Public   Works!    The    Trojans    fought  the 
Grreeks  through  the  streets  of  Troy,  in  Grecian  armor. 
Will  the  Repealers  fight  the  Whigs  upon  the  hustings, 
with  Whig   favors   in   their   pockets?    Recollect,   the 
Union  was  carried  by  Irishmen  receiving  English  gold. 
Depend  upon  it,  the  same  system  will  not  accelerate  its 
repeal.      Sir,  we  must  have  an  end  of  place-begging. 
The  task  we  have  assumed  is  a  serious  one.     To  accom- 
plish it    well,  our  energies  must  have  full  play.     The 
trappings  of  the  Treasury  will  restrict  them  more  than 
the  shackles   of  the  prison.     State  liveries  usually  en- 
cumber men,  and  detain  them  at  the  Castle  gates.     Not 
a  doubt  of  it,  we  shall  work  the  freer  when  we  wear  no 
royal  harness." 

It  was  under  these  auspices,  and  with  such 
solemn  pledges,  that  the  Irish  Confederation 


226  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

was  formed,  and  new  hope  gleamed  athwart 
the  face  of  the  famine-stricken  land  even  in 
her  gloomiest  horn*.  The  well-known  ability 
and  thorough  honesty  of  the  leaders  were 
acknowledged  by  all,  even  by  those  who 
most  widely  differed  from  them,  whether 
Old  Irelanders  or  Orangemen;  while  the 
openness  of  their  statement  of  principles, 
and  their  eloquent  and  powerful  advocacy 
of  Irish  rights,  enlisted  the  attention  and 
excited  the  sympathies  of  the  thinking  class- 
es of  all  denominations  and  political  opin- 
ions. A  Council  was  created  to  administer 
the  affairs  of  the  new 'party,  and  sub-com- 
mittees appointed  on  Finance,  Famine, 
Public  Instruction,  Trade,  Parliamentary 
Matters,  Elections,  etc. ;  upon  which  promi- 
nent places  were  held  by  such  men  as 
O'Brien,  Duffy,  Dillon,  Bryan,  Martin, 
Mitchel,  McGree,  McCarthy,  Richard  O'Gor- 
man,  Sr.,  Richard  O'Gorman,  Jr.,  Pigott, 
Barry,  Lawlor,  Crean,  Reilly,  McManus, 
Doheny,  Dr.  Cane,  Lane,  Comyn,  Houghton, 
etc.,  with  appropriate  secretaries.  The  per- 
manent meeting-rooms  of  the  Council  were 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  227 

at  No.  9,  D'Olier  St.,  Dublin,  andtlie  Music 
Hall,  one  of  tlie  most  spacious  buildings  in 
the  city,  was  usually  selected  for  the  semi- 
monthly public  meetings.  No  sooner  had 
the  proceedings  of  the  meeting  in  the  Ro tun- 
do  been  made  public,  than  a  large  number  of 
persons,  including  men  of  all  ranks  in  life, 
signified  their  desire  to  become  members  of 
the  Confederation ;  and  subscriptions  poured 
in  from  all  quarters,  though  no  pecuniary 
qualification  was  fixed  for  membership. 

The  first  attempt  of  the  young  organi- 
zation was  bold,  and,  though  not  as  success- 
ful as  was  hoped,  had  yet  a  wonderful 
moral  effect  on  the  nation.  Early  in 
February  a  vacancy  occurred  in  the  repres- 
entation of  Galway  by  the  resignation  of 
Valentine  Blake,  and  two  candidates  ap- 
peared to  claim  the  suffrages  of  the  ''  City  of 
the  Tribes."  One  was  James  Henry  Mon- 
aghan,  lately  so  infamous  in  Ireland  for  his 
brutality  and  partisanship  as  one  of  her  Maj- 
esty's judges,  who  was  supported  by  his 
own  party,  the  Whigs,  and  by  the  Tories : 
the  other  being  aa  independent  Repealer, 


228  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

A^nthony  O'Flaherty.  The  council  of  the 
Confederation  immediately  issued  a  stirring 
address  to  the  Repealers  of  Gal  way,  in 
which  they  said : — 

"  We  do  not  presume  to  suggest  a  candidate  for  your 
sufFraofes — vou  will  choose  for  yourselves.  One  thinsr 
onlv  we  ask  of  vou — to  vote  for  no  Whio;-,  for  no  Torv, 
for  none  but  a  pledged  and  determined  Repealer. 
This,  Repealers  of  G-alway,  all  Irishmen  are  entitled  to 
demand  at  your  hands — that  you  send  no  nominee  of  an 
English  government  to  inform  his  emplo^-ers  that  his 
constituency,  for  their  part,  have  repented  the  pledge  of 
'45,  have  revoked  the  vows  of  '45,  and  are  content  to  ac- 
cept some  paltry,  foreign  patronage,  instead  of  the  bless- 
ings, the  pride,  and  the  security  of  an  Irish  Legislature. 

''You  will  forgive  us  if  we  seem  for  an  instance  to 
doubt  the  fate  of  your  election.  But  there  is  a  painful 
and  shameful  rumor  abroad :  that  an  official  of  the 
English  government  dares  to  hope  for  the  votes  of 
Galway  Repealers ;  an  officer  of  that  government  which 
has  starved  the  poor  and  impoverished  the  rich — that 
government  which  declares  that  it  will  resist  to  the 
death  the  attainment  of  the  national  independence  which 
we  have  all  sworn  to  win.  Think,  Repealers  of  Galway, 
of  your  countr^mien  most  foully  murdered  by  the  blast- 
ing Union. 

"  Let  Galway  be  saved  for  Ireland  ;  and  rely  on  the 
zealous  assistance  of  this  Confederation  in  securing  the 
et'jrn  of  any  true  Repealer.  " 


THE  MEN  OF  '43.  229 

Mr.  O'Flalierty  was  not  a  member  of  the 
Confederation;  but  notwithstanding  that  he 
still  adliered  to  the  old  Association,  beino*  a 
man  of  patriotic  views  and  opposed  to  place- 
hnnting,  the  Council  resolved  to  follow  up 
their  23i'oclamation  by  sending  a  deputation 
to  Gal  way  to  arouse  the  people  into  action. 
The  effect  of  this  step  was  thus  described 
in  the  Limerick  and  Clare  Examiner : 

"  The  Repeal  party  put  forth  its  strength  in  a  marked 
and  decisive  manner.  For  the  past  week  meetings 
were  held  each  ni^-ht  in  the  committee  rooms  and  the 
theatre,  at  which  the  most  soul-stirring  addresses 
weie  delivered  by  the  members  of  the  deputation  of  the 
Irish  Confederation,  whose  sincere  and  untiring  exertions 
on  this  tr^ang  occasion  cannot  be  too  highly  appreciated. 
Messrs. O'Gronnan,  Michael  J.  Barry,  T.  F.  Meagher  and 
J.  B.  Dillon,  are  the  men  to  whom  in  a  great  measure 
may  be  attributed  the  enthusiastic  ardor  which  pervades 
all  ranks  of  the  Galwegians  at  present.  Our  reporters, 
on  their  arrival,  found  the  court-house  crowded  to  suffo- 
cation. In  one  of  the  galleries,  Mr.  O'Flaherty  and 
his  friends  mustered  in  great  numbers,  resting  their 
hopes  of  success,  not  on  the  tinsel  of  office  or  assurances 
of  those  comfortable  births,  which  seem  to  captivate 
not  a  few  of  the  opposite  party  ;  but  in  the  glorious,  the 
noble,  and  the  chivalrous  principle  of  national  redemp- 
tion, the  principle  of  Ireland's  right  to  native  legislation. 


230  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

On  the  otlier  side  were  arrayed  Mr.  Monaglian  and  tlie 
apostate  Repealers,  many  of  wliom,  though  members  of 
the  Association,  openly  sided  with  the  government  can- 
didate. The  body  of  the  court  was  crammed  by  the  vis- 
itors, the  tried,  the  unshrinking,  frieze-coated  Repeal- 
ers :  the  cheering  was  so  loud  and  continuous,  that  the 
sheriff  was  unable  for  a  considerable  time  to  procure  a 
hearing  for  the  candidates.  Much  confusion  was  creat- 
ed by  a  drunken  banditti  of  forty  or  fift}''  degraded  mer- 
cenaries from  Oladdagh,  w'ho  w^ere  content  to  barter  their 
freedom  for  some  petty  consideration.  With  this  ex- 
ception, the  great  body  of  the  people  were  on  the  side 
of  nationality." 

The  election,  however,  was  gained  by  the 
Whig  candidate  through  the  aid  of  John 
O'Connell's  Repealers,  by  a  majority  of  four , 
but  the  people  of  the  west  recognized  the 
treachery  of  the  followers  of  that  person ; 
and  to  this  day  they  have  ample  cause  to 
rue  the  choice  which  their  chief  city  made 
in  that  eventful  struggle.  *'  You  saw  the 
men  who  voted  for  the  Repeal  candidate," 
said  Meagher  in  one  of  his  thrilling 
harangues  duiing  the  election:  ''did  they 
reorister  their  votes  under  the  sabres  of  the 
hussars  ?  No  ;  they  voted  for  their  coun- 
try, and  werC;  therefore,  under  no  obliga- 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  231 

tions  to  tlie  livened  champions  of  the  Eng- 
lish flag.  They  went  up  to  the  hustings 
like  honest  citizens,  and  were  protected,  not 
by  the  musket  of  the  soldier,  but  by  the 
arm  of  the  God  of  Hosts.  Their  souls 
were  as  untrammelled  as  their  limbs,  and 
recording  their  votes,  they  were  distin- 
guished for  the  manliness  which  men  who 
love  freedom  can  alone  exhibit.  They  voted 
like  men  who  knew  well  that  the  scheme  of 
the  Whigs  is  to  soothe  this  country  into 
degradation,  and  they  looked  like  men  who 
scorned  to  be  soothed  for  that  purpose — 
scorned  the  vile  scheme  that  would  pros- 
trate this  country  by  patronage — scorned 
the  vile  scheme  that  Avould  perpetuate  the 
Union  by  making  it  prolific  in  small  boons/^ 
The  Confederation  continued  daily  to  re- 
ceive new  accessions,  some  from  the  ranks 
of  the  landholders,  but  the  majority  be- 
longed to  a  class  of  men  who,  amid  all  the 
horrors  of  the  plague  and  famine,  still  had 
faith  in  Ireland's  future,  who  read  books 
and  newspapers  and  formed  their  own 
political  opinions.     These  were  the  trades- 


2o2  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

men  of  the  towns  and  the  tenant  farmers  of 
the  rm-al  districts — the  bone  and  sinew,  the 
hope  and  trust  of  the  hind.  In  promoting 
this  good  work,  in  spreading  broadcast  the 
sterhng  views  of  the  Confederates,  and  in 
meetinof"  and  refutino"  the  arof-uments  of  their 
enemies,  the  Nation  was  preeminent  and 
untiring.  Still,  though  its  own  course  was 
becoming  more  and  more  popular,  as  that 
of  Conciliation  Hall  was  becoming  weak 
and  distasteful,  it  did  not  relinquish  the  at- 
tempt to  fuse  all  nationalists  in  one  common 
array  against  the  common  oppressor.  In 
AjDril,  1857,  an  article  appeared  in  its  col- 
umns, which  excited  general  attention  and 
carried  conviction  to  the  minds  of  many 
doubtful  or  wavering  Repealers.  A  few 
short  extracts  wdll  be  sufficient  to  show  the 
gravity  of  the  Irish  question  at  this  time, 
and  the  willinOTess  of  the  oro^an  of  the 
Confederacy  to  yield  everything  possible 
for  the  sake  of  Union. 

'^  There  is  one  resource  adequate  to  our  emergency — 
we  believe  there  is  only  one  :  a  convocation  of  our 
best  and  wisest  Irishmen,  to  detenniue  how  the  nation 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  233 

may  be  Scaved.  Not  a  new  Rotiindo  meeting  to  be  adu- 
lated at  home  and  spat  upon  abroad,  but  an  assembly 
tliat  shall  be  spat  upon  nowhere;  being  fit  to  act  as 
well  as  to  speak.  An  assembly  full  of  a  deep  and  grave 
sense  of  our  terrible  condition  ;  and  which,  representing 
all  the  interests  of  the  country,  the  aristocracy,  the 
gentry,  the  clergy,  the  professional  and  mercantile 
classes,  the  tenant  fanners  and  the  artisans,  shall  feel  it- 
self competent  to  speak  with  plenipotentiary  authority 
for  this  Irish  nation." 

'^A  national  Assembly,  then,  is  our  only  resource. 
The  ways  and  means  of  action  which  we  have  suggest- 
ed may  be  impolitic  or  ineffective.  Wiser  and  better 
plans  may  exist,  of  which  we  know  nothing.  We  stand 
upon  no  details.  We  insist  upon  no  more  than  the 
moral  necessity  of  taking  counsel  together,  and  doing 
whatever  may  seem  best  to  the  assembled  wisdom  of  the 
country.  But  to  act  has  become  essential  to  our  nation- 
al life,  now — now — now — now — or  never.  If  the  coun- 
try do  not  feel  this  instinctively  and  without  bidding, 
as  men  in  a  sinking  ship  fly  to  the  boats,  nothing  is  be- 
fore us  but  hopeless  ruin." 

^'Mr.  John  O'Oonnell  asks  for  a  reunion  of  the  Re- 
peal party.  Surely,  surely,  if  it  be  upon  some  basis  of 
action,  some  centre  like  this,  round  which  hope  and 
purpose  may  rally.  And  the  Conservative  press,  the 
Warde)'  and  the  Pacliet,  which  have  preached  na- 
tionality ;  and    the  Mail   and  the  Dublin  Universityy 


234  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

wliich  have  threatened  it, — now,  if  tliey  meant  honestly, 
their  time  for  action  is  come.  The  hmdlords,  it  is  af- 
firmed, are  ready  for  such  a  movement  as  we  have  indi- 
cated, if  the  press  in  whicli  they  trust  would  counsel 
it.  If  the}'^  are  indeed  ready,  all  the  interests  in  the 
state  may  still  be  saved,  and  our  nation  win  the  holiest 
and  most  peaceful  triumph  in  history.  If  not — if  they 
still  falter,  still  scheme,  and  still  look  to  their  own  sel- 
fish interests  alone,  they  are  doomed  of  Grod ;  and  their 
class — the  very  men  now  dallying  with  our  fate — will 
be  trampled  under  the  feet  of  the  English  Minister  or  of 
the  Irish  Parliament.'' 

Meanwliile  the  Council  of  the  Irish  Con- 
federation were  diligently  at  work,  perfect- 
ing its  organization,  extending  its  ramifica- 
ions  throughout  the  country  by  means  of 
Repeal  reading-rooms  or  clubs,  and  fur- 
nishing, through  its  committees,  much  valu- 
able information  on  the  progress  of  the 
Famine,  the  Land  Tenure,  Manufactures 
and  Industry,  Parliamentary  Proceedings, 
Emigration,  and  other  topics  of  general 
interest.  They  also  held  public  meetings 
semi-monthly  in  Dublin,  at  wdiich  large 
numbers  of  the  citizens  and  gentlemen  from 
the  provinces,  in  sympathy  with  the  move- 
ment, were   wont   to  attend.     At  first  the 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  235 

speakers  at  those  meetings  were  assailed  by 
the  mob  which  had  attempted  to  intimidate 
the  Bemonstrants ;  but  it  was  invariably  re- 
pulsed by  the  Confederates,  till  by  degrees 
public  opinion  became  so  strongly  in  favor 
of  freedom  of  speech,  that  the  champions  of 
moral  force  were  compelled  to  desist.  One 
of  the  most  important  of  those  meetings 
was  held  in  April,  and  was  remarkable,  not 
only  for  the  number  and  enthusiasm  of 
attendants,  but  for  a  speech  of  Charles 
Gavan  Duffy,  the  first  of  any  importance 
ever  delivered  by  him  in  public. 

Duify  was,  and  is,  a  remarkable  man,  and 
in  his  own  sphere  one  of  the  ablest  that  this 
or  any  other  century  has  produced  in  Ire- 
land. In  early  life  he  went  from  his 
northern  home  to  Dublin,  a  stranger  with 
but  a  few  shillino-s  in  his  Docket,  with  noth- 
ing  to  recommend  him  but  a  plain,  solid, 
primary  education,  sound  common-sense  and 
an  unconquerable  will.  For  several  years 
he  labored  in  a  subordinate  capacity  on  one 
of  the  metropolitan  newspapers,  working 
hard  at  his  desk  for  a  trifling  pittance,  and 


236  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

devoting  his  spare  hours,  usually  spent 
by  young  men  of  his  age  in  pleasure,  to 
study  and  self-improvement.  He  subse- 
quently engaged  himself  as  editor  of  the 
Belfast  Vindicator,  which  became  under  his 
management  one  of  the  best  and  most  spirit- 
edly conducted  papers  in  Ireland.  In  1 842, 
when  in  his  twenty-sixth  year,  he  became 
editor-in-chief,  and,  with  Davis  and  Dillon, 
joint-proprietor  of  the  Nation,  relations 
which  he  continued  to  hold  to  that  remark- 
able journal  till  its  sup])ression  by  the  gov- 
ernment in  the  summer  of  1848.  As  an 
editor,  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  we 
have  had  no  writer  of  the  Enorlish  lano-uaofe, 
in  his  time,  who  could  be  counted  his 
superior,  and  even  very  few  his  equals. 
Strong,  robust,  didactic  English  flowed  flu- 
ently from  his  pen,  not  as  a  bubbling  stream 
dancing  and  sparkling,  only  to  be  enjoyed 
momentarily  and  forgotten  ;  nor  as  a  half- 
turbid  rhetorical  torrent,  that  brinofs  neither 
persuasion  nor  conviction  ;  but  like  a  rapid, 
broad,  and  limpid  river  which  holds  its 
course,    irresistibly   bearing    along   on   its 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  237 

ample  bosom  many  an  argosy  freiglited  witli 
deep  tlioiights,  clear  ideas,  and  profound 
reasons.  Without  for  a  moment  detracting 
from  the  merits  of  his  gifted  associates,  we 
may  be  allowed  to  say  that  to  him,  more 
than  to  any  one  man,  was  due  the  great  suc- 
cess and  potency  of  the  Nation  from  the  very 
beginning.  His  wise  counsels  governed  its 
course,  and  his  strong,  almost  abrupt,  force 
and  patriotism  inspired  its  editorial  columns, 
and  even  sometimes  lent  grace  to  its  lighter 
literary  attractions. 

As  a  judge  of  human  nature  in  the  in- 
dividual, as  a  patron  of  young  struggHng 
men,  as  a  political  organizer,  he  was  far 
above  most  of  his  cotemporaries  ;  in  the  lat- 
ter qualit}",  particularly,  he  was  so  preemin- 
ently an  adept,  that  his  advice  and  views 
were  highly  prized,  and  freely  acknowledged 
by  O'Connell  in  his  best  days,  and  were  of 
incalculable  benefit  to  the  new  Confedera- 
tion from  its  very  inception.  Like  most 
men  who  think  deeply  and  are  accustomed 
to  shape  the  course  of  others  from  their 
closets,  Duffy  had  never  paid  much  atten- 


238  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

tion  to  oratory,  and  it  was  only  as  a  matter 
of  duty  that  he  could  ever  be  induced  to 
address  an  audience.  On  the  occasion,  liow- 
ever,  of  the  April  meeting,  a  very  impor- 
tant resolution  was  to  be  offered,  requesting 
/'O'Brien  and  the  other  Irish  members  of 
all  parties  henceforth  to  withdraw  altogether 
from  parliament,  and  to  take  measures  for 
serving  the  country  at  home,"  and  Dujffy 
was  requested  to  propose  it.  In  compliance 
with  this  request,  he,  in  the  course  of  a  long 
and  impressive  speech,  said : — 

''  Is  it  strange,  then,  that  the  Council  of  the  Confed- 
eration has  come  to  the  resolution  of  asking  you  to 
call  upon  the  Irish  members  to  quit  that  parliament 
aud  take  their  stand  at  home,  among  their  own  people? 
We  have  prayed  to  the  deaf  ears  of  parliament  long 
enough.  Wherever  succor  and  redemption  are  to  be 
had,  it  is  clear  enough  that  thev  are  not  to  be  had 
there.  There  is  but  one  place  we  can  find  them — there 
is  but  one  place  we  have  a  right  to  look  for  them — 
in  ourselves.  England  at  this  hour  is  teeming  with 
wealth  and  plenty,  yet  it  is  not  alleged  that  she  pos- 
sesses any  natural  advantages  that  we  do  not  share. 
She  does  not  starve.  Her  people  do  not  die  in  mj^riads, 
or  fly  with  averted  eyes  from  her  shore.  They  prosper 
at  home,  and    glory  in   the  home    which  shelters   and 


THE  MEN  OF  '4.^.  239 

protects  them.  0  friends  !  lias  your  land  no  natural 
rights?  Is  there  some  ordinance  of  God  by  which  we, 
living  in  the  same  latitudes  and  under  the  same  skies, 
must  see  our  people  die  of  hunger  and  nakedness "?  Oh, 
infamy  !  are  we  to  ask  this  question  forever  ?  Let  us  at 
least  not  blaspheme  Providence  j  let  us  not  even  blame 
England  :  the  fault  is  not  England's,  but  our  own.  It 
is  the  right  of  this  people,  and  their  sacred  duty,  to 
protect  themselves  against  all  aggressors  on  the  face  of 
the  earth,  come  they  east  or  west,  over  the  broad  Atlan- 
tic, or  across  the  British  Channel.  And  surely  the  time 
has  come,  while  we  still  suffer  under  one  calamity  and 
await  another,  to  determine  the  cause  of  our  misery  and 
to  take  some  sure  measures  for  our  protection." 

Messrs.  Mitcliel,  Dolieny,  Reilly,  McGee, 
O'Gorman,  Jr.,  Coyne,  and  Rev.  C.  P.  Mee- 
han,  also,  spoke  at  this  great  meeting.  The 
latter,  the  pastor  of  S.S.  Michael  and  John's, 
Dublin,  as  distinguished  for  his  erudition 
as  for  his  charity  and  zealous  devotion  to 
the  poor,  said  in  the  course  of  his  remarks  : — 
^'  Look  abroad  ! — wherever  there  was  not 
provincialism  there  were  manufactures. 
Need  he  point  to  France,  Belgium,  or  glo- 
rious America  I  Let  them  turn  their  eyes 
then  to  home — let  them  go  to  the  liberties 
and  into  the  lanes  and  alleys  of  the  city  of 


240  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

Dublin,  and  here  he  would  take  leave  to 
state,  from  his  own  personal  knowledge, 
that  no  person  was  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  the  misery  and  fetid  disease  of  these 
localities,  with  the  exception  of  the  medical 
attendants,  the  clergymen,  and,  in  thousands 
of  instances,  the  Sisters  of  Charity.  This 
misery,  this  total  absence  of  manufactures 
— this  total  inertness  in  the  mechanics — their 
pining,  haggard  asj)ect — the  distress  of 
their  families — all  these  things  could  be 
traced  as  the  result  of  the  absence  of  do- 
mestic legislation."  The  report  alluded  to 
was  presented  by  McGee,  and  was  a  very 
exhaustive  relation  of  the  state  of  Irish 
manufactures  and  trade.  He  closed  his 
speech  by  the  following  practical  advice : — 

*'  Let  us  alter  our  condition  at  home.  Let  us  see 
what  relics  of  our  old  prosperity  are  left  us — let  us  vow 
to  each  other  to  reward  the  industry  of  our  people — in 
trade,  in  mechanics,  or  in  letters.  Free  Trade  and  the 
Famine — two  events  which  have  occurred  since  1840 — 
will  give  this  important  movement  motives  and  means 
which  the  old  movement  could  not  have  had.  If  we 
are  determined  to  stay  at  home,  let  it  be  to  help  each 
other,  not  to  destrov.     If  we  will  not  abandon  Ireland, 


THE  MEN  OF '48.  241 

in  God's  name  let  us  drive  famine  and  bigotry  an<l  dis- 
union out.  Let  us  labor  to  create  prosperity,  not  from 
the  mean  motive  of  hatred  to  England,  but  for  the 
better  one  of  justice  to  our  children  and  our  race.  Let 
us  cultivate  the  good-will  of  other  states — let  us  de- 
serve other  men's  respect — let  us  win  the  approval  of 
our  own  consciences ;  bat,  above  all  and  before  all,  let  us 
try  to  deserve  the  blessings  of  that  God  who  placed  us 
here,  with  feelings,  appetites,  hopes,  and  fears,  and  who 
never  intended  that  his  Irish  children  should  Jive  un- 
der the  ban,  and  die  of  the  natural  wants  He  gave  them/' 


CHAPTER  XL 

An  American-Irish  Banquet:— Richard  O'Gorman, 
Jr. — A  truce  again  proposed — O'Brien  in  the  Confedera- 
tion— A  disgraceful  scene  in  Conciliation  Hall — Rev. 
Mr.  McHugh — Death  of  O'Connell — ^Its  effects  on  the 
people — Fate  of  Conciliation  Hall — The  Nation  on  the 
future — Election  in  Cork   a  Confederate  victory. 

Such  were  the  sentiments  and  aims  of 
the  Confederates ;  and  it  is  no  wonder  that, 
sound  and  national  as  they  were^  they  were 
fonnd  gradually  permeating  all  classes  of 
the  people.  The  members  of  the  Council 
on  their  part  neglected  no  jDrojDer  occasion 
to  reiterate  and  develop  them  in  all  possi- 
ble forms.  An  opportunity  of  this  sort  was 
presented  on  the  4th  of  May,  '47,  when  a 
banquet  was  given  in  Dublin  in  honor  of 
Captain  Clark  and  the  crew  of  the  Ameri- 
can ship  Victor^  which  had  come  freighted 
with  a  portion  of  the  generous  offerings  of 
the  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  the  Irish 
people.  A  large  company  sat  down,  and  some 
good  speeches  were  delivered  on  the  occa- 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  24 


o 


.si  Oil — O'Gorman,  Jr.'s,  and  Meagher's  being 
among  the  number.  The  former,  in  respond- 
ing to  the  toast,  ''  Peace  and  Prosperity  to 
om-  Native  Land,"  said : — 

"  We  Lave  bad  public  meetings  and  puLlio  speeches 
enoiiorh.  The  voice  of  our  sorrow  has  crossed  the  At- 
lantic.  We  Lave  threatened,  we  Lave  promised — and 
1  confess  I  feel  almost  asLamed  in  speaking  before  that 
gentleman — I  feel  myself  asLamed  of  my, position  as  an 
Irishman — I  feel  that  I  belong  to  a  race  the  most  abject, 
the  most  degraded,  the  most  servile  of  any  that  has  ever 
blotted  the  face  of  tLe  earth.  We  are  in  the  habit,  in 
this  land,  of  praising  one  another,  of  saying  that  the  Irish 
people  are  the  finest,  the  bravest,  the  boldest  in  the  world. 
We  are  no  such  thing.  I  will  tell  you  what  we  are. 
We  have  borne  more  suffering,  we  have  tamely  borne 
more  degradation,  we  have  broken  more  vows,  than 
any  other  nation  I  ever  read  of.  And  now,  gentlemen, 
when  you  drink  with  enthusiasm  the  toast  of  '  Prosperity 
to  Ireland,'  let  me  tell  you  this,  that  in  my  heart  and. 
soul  I  believe  that  tlie  cause  of  the  absence  of  tLat 
prosperity  is  not  so  much  the  misgovernment  of  any  other 
■  country,  as  a  want  of  self-reliance  and  honest  exertion 
amono^  vourselves.  If  vou  are  fit  to  be  free,  if  you 
are  honest  men,  when  you  hear  the  toast,  '  Prosperity  to 
Ireland,'  remember  that  tLat  prosperitv  depends  upon 
yourselves — remember  it  is  yours  to  seek  it — it  is  yours 
to  win  it.  And  if  you  want  to  know  how  it  is  to  be  won, 
ask  Captain  Clark  of  America.     If  you  want  to  know 


244  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

how  Irish  prosperity  is  to  be  obtained,  read  the  history 
of  American  Independence." 

These  utterances,  these  homely,  but  un- 
palatable truths,  were  quite  in  keeping  with 
the  younger  0' Gorman's  character.  At  that 
time  he  was  in  the  full  flush  of  his  early 
manhood,  thoroughly  educated,  full  of  man- 
liness and  devotion  to  the  cause  of  Ireland  ; 
his  proud  spirit  could  not  brook  the  degra- 
dation and  uncomplaining  squalor  which 
every  day  he  beheld  in  the  streets  of  his 
native  city.  He  was  then  speaking  under 
the  very  roof  that  had  two  short  years  before 
reverberated  to  the  cheers  of  thousands 
who  had  signed  the  Rotundo  pledge,  and 
within  gunshot  of  Conciliation  Hall  in 
which  it  had  been  so  shamefully  violated. 
O'Gorman  was  as  eloquent  as  he  was  fear- 
less, and  his  fine  presence  and  melodious 
accents  added  a  charm  to  everything  he 
said.  But  he  was  not  content  to  please; 
he  preferred  to  speak  plain  truths.  On 
the  16th  of  the  previous  March,  at  a  meet- 
ing of  the  citizens  of  Dublin  presided  over 
by  the  Lord  Mayor,  in  moving  the  follow- 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  245 

ing  resolution,  lie  bluntly  remarked,  in  re- 
ply to  a  previous  speaker:  ^'  Mr.  Fitzgib- 
bon  lias  suira'csted  that  the  measures  of 
government  may  have  been  adopted  under 
an  infatuation.  I  believe  there  is  no  infatu- 
ation. I  hold  a  very  different  opinion  on  the 
subject.  I  think  the  British  government  are 
doing  what  they  intend  to  do."  He  then, 
to  the  astonishment  of  many,  moved : — 

''■  That  for  purposes  of  temporary  relief,  as  well  as  per- 
manent improvement,  the  one  great  want  and  demand 
of  Ireland  is,  that  Foreign  Legislators  and  Foreign 
Ministers  shall  no  longer  interfere  in  the  management 
of  her  affairs." 

It  was  passed.  O'Gorman  had  long  been 
a  prominent  member  of  the  Repeal  Com- 
mittee, but  from  the  secession  he  shared 
the  fortunes  of  his  friends,  and  became  one 
of  the  most  trusted,  popular,  and  useful 
members  of  the  Confederation. 

In  the  early  part  of  May,  another  effort 
was  made  to  brino-  about  a  reconciliation 
between  the  dissevered  members  of  the 
Repealers.  The  Rev.  Mr.  McHugh  sent  a 
letter  to  O'Gorman,  which  was  laid  before 


246  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

tlie  Council,  accompanied  by  a  copy  of  a 
resolution  of  the  Committee  of  the  Repeal 
Association,  authorizing  him  to  request  a 
conference  between  the  leading  members 
of  the  Confederation  and  of  the  Association, 
to  adjust  the  differences  between  Re- 
pealers. O'Brien,  Duffy,  Mitchel,  Dillon, 
McGee,  O'Gorman,  Jr.,  Doheny,  and  Mea- 
gher were,  in  compliance  with  this  request, 
appointed,  with  definite  instructions.  Both 
delegations  having  met  on  the  4th  of  May, 
it  was  proposed  by  those  acting  on  the  pai't 
of  the  Confederation  that  the  two  Repeal 
organizations  should  be  dissolved  and  an  en- 
tirely new  one  formed,  as  the  first  step  to 
a  hearty  and  efiicient  reunion.  This  was 
objected  to  on  the  part  of  the  Association, 
and  in  consequence  the  negotiation  failed. 
At  the  public  meeting  of  the  Irish  Confeder- 
ation which  followed  this  abortive  attempt, 
O'Brien,  chairman  of  the  delegation,  in  ex- 
plaining the  propositions  laid  before  the 
conference,  said : — 

"  With  regard  to  tlie  policy  of  the  new  Association,  I 
candidly  tell  you  that  we  thought  there  was  no  hope 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  2  17 

for  Repeal  if  tliis  country  were  to  "become  a  ration  of 
place-Lnnters.  I  do  not  believe  that  any  nation  ever 
won  its  liberties,  or  ever  will  win  its  liberties,  by  place- 
linnting.  We,  the  Repeal  party,  consider  ourselves  in 
a  position  of  antagonism  to  all  parties,  particularly 
English  parties  opposed  to  Repeal ;  and  I  should  like 
to  know  what  a  chance  there  would  be  of  winning  any 
contest  in  which  the  combatants  were  to  begin  by  ask- 
ing favors  from  those  on  the  other  side?  We  are  told 
forsooth, — and  this  is  the  pretext — that  if  the  places  be 
obtained  by  Repealers,  the  hands  of  Repealers  will  be 
strengthened,  and  they  can  wield  the  power  whicb  they 
so  acquire  against  their  benefactors.  Gentlemen,  I  will 
not  ask  an  assembly  of  Irishmen  what  they  think  of 
the  chivalry,  the  generosity,  and  the  magnanimity  of 
that  sentiment.  But  we  have  the  advantage  of  having 
this  question  tested  by  experience  j  and  I  should  like  to 
know  the  individual  who,  after  having  received  a  place 
from  the  government,  has  afterwards  continued  an  ardent, 
zealous  Repealer?  I  should  like  to  know  whether,  since 
this  doctrine  has  been  preached.  Repealers  can  think 
they  occupy  the  position  in  the  eyes  of  mankind  that 
they  did  before  ?  " 

As  an  instance  of  how  widely  John 
O'Connell  differed  from  the  Confederates 
on  this  very  vital  point,  we  quote  from  a 
speech  of  his  delivered  in  Conciliation  Hall, 
a  few  weeks  previously,  on  place-hunting, 
the  following  paragraph  : — 


248  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

"  I  have,  at  tlie  instance  of  private  individuals  of  high 
worth  and  respectability — very  many  of  them  clergymen 
and  dignitaries  in  the  Catholic  Church — recommended 
respectable  and  meritorious  persons  to  the  notice  of  gov- 
ernment J  as  was,  in  fact,  a  part  of  my  duty  as  a  member 
of  parliament  not  in  direct  opposition  on  all  points  to 
that  government." 

The  full  significance  of  this  debasing  ad- 
mission will  be  better  understood,  when  we 
recollect  that  eveiy  paid  official  of  the 
government  was  not  only  prohibited  from 
becoming  a  member  of  the  Repeal  party, 
and  from  voting  at  any  parliamentary  elec- 
tion, but  that  his  simple  appearance  at  a 
Eepeal  meeting  or  banquet  was  considered 
sufficient  cause  for  his  discharge. 

The  scene  in  the  Association,  which  took 
place  at  the  general  meeting  following  the 
failure  of  the  negotiations,  defies  description, 
and,  considering  the  characters  of  the  parties 
engaged,  was  altogether  unlooked  for.  It  is 
thus  sketched  in  the  papers  of  the  day  :  Rev. 
Mr.  McHugh,  having  endorsed  the  opin- 
ion of  the  necessity  of  dissolving  the  Associa- 
tion-, proceeded  to  advocate  the  formation  of 
a  new  one,  in  imitation  of  O'Connell's  tactics 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  249 

during  the  Emancipation  agitation.  Amid 
much  unseemly  interruption  John  O'Connell 
at  length  stepped  forward  : — 

Mr.  John  O'Connell — ^^  No,  no,  pardon  me.  Allow 
me  to  set  the  reverend  gentleman  right.  If  the  bishops 
of  Ireland — if  the  clergy  of  Ireland — if  the  people  of 
Ireland  and  Daniel  O'Connell  consent  to  it  (great 
cheering) " 

Eev.  Mr.  McHugh — "  I  object  to  that,  sir ;  I  object 
to  the  introduction  of " 

A  voice — "  Three  cheers  for  O'Connell."  (Great  cheer- 
ing.) 

Rev.  Mr.  McHugh — "I  must  object  totally  and 
strongly  to  the  dragging  of  the  names  of  the  venerated 
prelacy  and  clergy  of  Ireland  into  this  association. 
I  am  not  much  wrong  in  saying  that  no  man  has  a 
right  to  drag  the  names  of  that  venerated  body  into  our 
discussions,  as  Mr.  John  O'Connell  has  done.  (Approba- 
tion.) I  request,  sir,  that  you  will  be  more  abstemious 
in  future  in  acting  as  you  have  done  on  this  occasion, 
by  using  the  names  of  the  Catholic  hierarchy  and 
clergy  without  their  permission.  I  have  good  reason 
for  stating  publicly  that  there  is  great  dissatisfaction 
abroad  with  regard  to  that  point.  There  is  too  much 
liberty  taken  in  dragging  the  names  of  our  clergy  into 
every  political  movement.  (No,  no.)  How  can  j^ou  ex- 
pect Protestant  gentlemen  of  high  character,  of  strong 
Protestant  feeling,  who,  at  the  same  time,  are  deeply 
imbued  with  the  principles  of  nationality,  to  work  with 


250  THE  MEN  OF  MS. 

you  if  tlie  practice  of  dragging  religious  subjects  info 
your  debates  is  not  discontinued?  (A  voice — You  aie 
right.)  The  Repealers  were  divided  amongst  them- 
selves. There  were  New  Irelanders  and  Old  Irelanders. 
They  were  both  talking  about  Repeal,  yet  both  impo- 
tent— not  advancing  one  step.  The  English  Ministry 
did  but  laugh  at  them.  There  was  nothing  now  but 
Old  and  Young  Ireland  abusing  this  or  that  man. 
They  talked  of  dissolving.  Why,  they  were  defunct 
already.  (Loud  cries  of  No,  no.)  To  say  '  no'  costs  noth- 
ing, but  he  said  yes.  (Cheers.)  Many  respectable  gentle- 
men had  been  amongst  them.  He  did  not  see  them 
there.  Where  were  they  ?  They  were  not  connected 
with  them — and  without  them  they  could  do  nothing. 
It  was  stated  at  the  conference  that,  if  there  were  a 
reconciliation,  it  would  only  be  conditional  until  Mr. 
O'Connell  retui'ned.  (No,  no,  from  Mr.  J.  O'Connell  and 
other  members.)  He  said  yes,  and  the  statement  was 
made  in  the  presence  of  the  sixteen  gentlemen :  then, 
if  reconciliation  were  to  be  only  conditional,  what 
was  the  use  of  bringing  Mr.  O'Brien  and  the  other 
respectable  gentlemen  there  f  "  (Hissing  and  confusion). 

The  chairman  implored  the  meeting  to  hear  Mr. 
McHuofh  out. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  McHugh— "  Indeed  they  won't ! "   . 

The  ChaiiTnan — '^  I  do  not  think  that  the  rev.  gentle- 
man can  complain  of  not  being -heard,  considering  the 
concession  that  has  been  made  to  him." 

The  Rev.  Mr.  McHugh  proceeded  to  say  that  he 
did  not  think  such  a  course  to  patch  up  a  union,  until 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  251 

tliey  bad  the  pleasure  of  seeiT]g  Mr.  O'Oonnell  amongst 
tliem,  was  candid.  He  did  not  expect  it.  He  would  sub- 
mit tliat  the  conference  had  not  been  canied  out  in  a  fair 
spirit.  Mr.  O'Brien  had  proposed  that  the  accounts  should 
be  published.  He  agreed  with  him.  What  had  be- 
come of  all  their  money  ?  (Cheers  and  hisses.)  He  ques- 
tioned no  man's  honesty,  they  were  all  honorable  men  ; 
but  every  public  body  should  account  to  the  public  f(jr 
the  public  money.  (Cheers.)  The  rev.  gentleman,  in 
conclusion,  called  upon  Mr.  J.  O'Connell  not  to  keep 
splitting  hairs  with  the  Young  Ireland  party,  but  to 
reorganize  the  Association,  which,  at  the  eleventh  hour, 
might  still  stay  the  torrent  of  bad  legislation. 

While  this  unseemly  exhibition  of  nar- 
row-minded prejudice  was  being  enacted, 
and  while  the  name  of  the  great  Liberator 
was  being  made  the  watchword  of  faction 
and  bigotry  by  his  unworthy  son,  the  soul  of 
that  illustrious  man  was  struggling  to  free 
itself  from  its  earthly  tenement,  and  soar 
to  the  judgment-seat  where  all  the  deeds  of 
this  life  are  sure  to  meet  at  last  their  just 
reward ;  and  where  al(Tne  the  motives  and 
springs  of  human  action  are  truly  known. 

Overpowered  by  the  terrible  calamities,  to 
which  the  people  for  whom  he  had  so  long 
labored  were  exposed  ;   disheartened  bv  the 


252  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

factious  and  selfish  conduct  of  those  even 
of  his  own  blood,  and  disgusted  with  the 
treachery  and  bad  faith  of  the  Whigs ;  worn 
down  by  years  and  enfeebled  by  sickness, 
he  left  Parliament  early  in  the  session,  and 
by  the  advice  of  his  physicians  retired  to 
Hastings.  Not  feeling  much  benefited  by 
the  change  of  air,  he  was  recommended  to 
try  the  south  of  Europe  ;  and  on  the  21st  of 
April,  accompanied  by  Rev.  Dr.  Miley,  his 
chaplain,  he  set  out  for  Rome,  via  Paris. 
In  the  latter  city  he  was  attended  by  the 
most  eminent  medical  men,  who  united  in 
pronouncing  his  malady,  though  dangerous, 
not  necessarily  fatal.  In  the  French  capital, 
also,  he  received  the  marked  attention  of 
such  distinguished  men  as  the  Archbishop, 
Montalembert,  de  Laroche  Jaquelin,  and 
others.  The  members  of  the  Electoral  Com- 
mittee for  the  defence  of  religious  liberty, 
consisting  of  some  of  the  most  eminent 
men  of  the  day,  likewise  showed  him  all 
the  respect  and  sympathy  possible  under 
the  painful  circumstances.  On  the  29th,  he 
resumed  his  route  to  Rome  by  the  way  of 


THE  JVIEN  OF  '48.  253 

Orleans,  Lyons,  and  Marseilles,  his  young- 
est son  and  two  French  doctors  having  been 
added  to  his  escort.  Everywhere  on  his 
journey  he  received  the  greatest  marks  of 
respect,  and  enthusiastic  multitudes  accom- 
panied his  steps  throughout.  From  Civita 
Vecchia  he  endeavored  to  push  on  to  the 
Eternal  City,  as  fast  as  his  sinking  health 
would  permit,  but  was  obliged  to  halt  at 
Genoa,  where  on  the  15th  of  May,  1847,  he 
breathed  his  last. 

It  would  be  difficult  adequately  to  de- 
scribe the  profound  sensation  of  sorrow 
which  the  news  of  O'Connell's  death  pro- 
duced among  all  classes  in  Ireland.  Those 
who  had  neither  liked  him  politically,  nor 
followed  him  in  his  days  of  triumph,  vied 
with  the  sincere  Repealers  yet  left  in  the  As- 
sociation, and  with  the  Confederates,  always 
the  warm  admirers  of  his  genius  and  patriot- 
ism, in  tokens  of  genuine  grief  for  the  great 
loss  which  Ireland,  Europe,  nay  Christen- 
dom itself,  had  sustained  in  the  demise  of 
one  of  the  most  gigantic  intellects  that  ever 
planned,  wrought,   and   struggled   for   the 


254  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

civil  and  religions  rights  of  mankind. 
Whatever  fanlts  he  might  have  had,  were 
ignored ;  whatever  nnkind  word  or  arbi- 
trary sentence  he  might  have  let  fall  in  un- 
guarded moments,  was  forgotten.  Faction 
itself,  the  bitter,  fell  spirit  of  disunion  and 
jealousy,  was  for  a  time  hushed — no,  not 
completely  hushed,  for  the  miserable  few 
who  then  guided  the  councils  of  the 
once  great  Association  he  had  founded,  and 
the  scarcely  less  contemptible  crew  that 
believed  in  them,  raised  the  cry  tliat  it  was 
the  conduct  of  the  "Young  Irelanders" 
which  had  hastened  his  death ;  when  it  was 
as  well  known  to  them,  as  it  is  now  to  the 
whole  world,  that  the  seeds  of  the  disease 
of  which  he  eventually  died,  were  planted 
long  anterior  to  the  difference  which  sprung 
up  in  1846,  and  in  all  probability  may  be 
traced  back  to  his  imprisonment  two  years 
previously.  To  such  an  extent,  and  to 
give  additional  credence  to  the  foul  calumny, 
was  this  petty  spite  carried,  that,  when  the 
members  of  the  Confederate  Council  sio[*ni- 
^ed  their  intention  of  accompanying   the 


Tin:  MEN  OF  '48.  255 

body  to  its  last  resting-place  in  Glasnevin, 
permission  was  refused  by  John  O'Connell 
on  behalf  of  himself  and  the  other  members 
of  the  family. 

With  the  death  of  the  great  chieftain, 
the  Repeal  Association,  which  had  for  some 
months  been  living  solely  on  the  charm  of 
his  name,  became  a  helpless,  inane  institu- 
tion— a  training  school  for  office-seekers  and 
amateur  traitors,  and  finally  lapsed  into  ob- 
livion. Tom  Steele,  one  of  the  few  honest, 
if  not  the  wisest  of  its  members,  first  left ; 
then  came  a  scramble  for  obscure  govern- 
ment appointments  at  home  and  abroad, 
and  a  few  years  afterwards  the  arch  dis- 
sembler and  prime  disturber,  John  O'Con- 
nell, passed  away  almost  unnoticed,  with 
a  pair  of  eleemosynary  epaulets  and  with 
the  rank  of  captain  in  the  British — militia. 

The  conduct  of  the  Irish  Confederates 
imder  these  trying  circumstances  was  singu- 
larly delicate  and  dignified.  Their  sorrow 
was  deep  and  true,  and  they  expressed  it  as 
men  should  do,  not  by  idle  repinings  and 
vain  lamentations,  but  by  resolving  anew 


256  THE  MEN  OF  '43. 

to  cany  out  the  plans  tlieir  great  exemplar 
had  laid  doAvn,  and  for  the  fulfilment  of 
which  he  had  toiled  so  energetically  till  the 
whisperings  of  false  friends  and  the  lures 
of  the  Whigs  had  induced  him  partially  to 
abandon  them.  At  their  meetings  his  name 
was  always  mentioned  wdtii  profound  re- 
spect, and  his  memory  w-as  embalmed  in 
prose  and  verse.  They  in  truth  revered  his 
great  virtues,  admired  his  comprehensive 
mind,  and  loved  the  hand  that  had  dealt  such 
heavy  blow^s  against  England,  albeit  it  had 
been  raised  sometimes  against  tliemselves. 
Said  the  Nation^  when  the  news  of  O'Con- 
nell's  demise  reached  Ireland : 

That  that  Future  includes  liberty  for  Ireland,  is  be- 
yond question.  But  bow  it  will  be  worked  out,  by 
what  agencies  and  in  what  time,  depends  on  many  con- 
ditions. If  we  make  the  tomb  of  the  lost  Liberator  an 
altar  on  which  to  lay  down  our  personal  wrongs  and 
party  differences,  the  work  h§  projected  may  soon  be 
accomplished.  If  the  country  remain  broken  and  irritat- 
ed, a  prey  to  petty  factions,  a  stage  for  rival  ambitions, 
the  way  may  be  long,  obscure,  and  bloody.  He  in  his 
vigorous  youth  might,  single-handed,  have  reduced  such 
a  chaos  to  order;  and  so,  happily,  may  men  of  less 
power,  with  less  labor,  if  they  work  with  one  heart. 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  257 

There  is  no  hope  of  another  O'Connell  j  but  let  us  re- 
member that  all  modern  revolutions  have  been  effected 
bv  cooperation,  and  do  the  thing  we  are  competent  to  do. 
If  he  had  a  successor  adequate  to  succeed  him,  he 
would  be  no  servile  copy.  O'Connell  did  not  resemble 
O'Neil,  Swift,  or  Grattan.  Tlie  strength  of  each  was 
that  he  brought  to  his  task  capacities  and  sympathies 
suited  to  his  own  time.  And  so  a  new  O'Connell  would 
need  and  would  possess  new  powers  and  resources  in 
harmony  with  the  means  and  wants  of  the  country. 
Perhaps,  in  the  honest  cooperation  of  many  minds,  the 
nearest  possible  approximation  to  this  ideal  may  be 
found.  May  Heaven  send  it  in  some  shape,  that  our 
path  to  liberty  may  not  lie  through  revolution  and  an- 
archy." 

It  was  in  this  spirit  of  conciliation  and 
good  feeling  that  the  Confederates  took 
part  in  the  Cork  election  of  July  to  fill  the 
place  of  the  late  member,  the  lost  Liberator. 
The  contest  was  carried  on  by  an  English- 
man named  Leander,  in  the  Tory  and  Whig 
interest,  and  Dr.  Maurice  Power,  a  member 
of  the  Repeal  Association,  pledged,  how- 
ever, against  place-hunting  and  the  wiles  of 
Whiggery,  strongly  fortified  in  that  faith  by 
a  series  of  resolutions  passed  by  his  fellow- 
citizens.     To  assist  Dr.   Power,  and   as   a 


258  THE  MEN  OF  '48.  *  I 

i 

representativeof  the  Confederation,  O'Brien  ; 

made  liis  appearance  at  the  hustings  amid  J 

the  wildest  applause.    At  the  request  of  the  '■ 

people  he  addressed  the  vast  audience  in  a  ■ 

speech  of  some  hours,  advocating  and  ex-  ■ 

plaining  in  their  order  the  principles  which  | 

should  govern  true  nationalists.  The  election  i 

which   lasted  several    days    ended   in   the  ] 

triumphant  return  of  the  Repeal  candidate.  ; 

Said  the  Cork  Examiner,  in  announcing  the  • 

result : —  I 

"  We  cannot,  before  we  conclude,  avoid  giving  utter- 
ance to  the  gratification  we  felt  at  the  unanimity  and  i 
union  of  Old  and  Young  Irelanders  on  this  occasion. 
It  was    more  than  many  an  anxious  friend  to  nation- 
ality dared  to  anticipate,  and  as  much  as  the  most  ar- 
dent lover  of  his  country  could  desire.     It  establishes, 
notwithstanding  the   personal    dispute  in  Dublin,   this  : 
most    heart-cheering    and   important    fact,    that   past  | 
estrangement  does  not  mar  concord  at  a  crisis,  and  that,  - 
however  Repealers  may  differ  on  matters  of  secondary  i 
moment,  all  agree  on  the  great  principle."  J 

With  this   additional  moral   victory   on  : 

their  banner,  the  Confederates  prepared  to  '■ 

take  an  active  part  in  the  approaching  gen-  i 

eral  elections ;  and  while  avoiding  dictation  ; 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  259 

or  putting  for\yard  their  own  candidates,  they 
resolutely  set  their  face  against  all  ])seudo 
Repealers  who  would  not  pledge  them- 
selves against  seeking  the  patronage  of 
either  English  party. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

The  General  Elections  of  1847. — J.  O'Connell  withdraws 

from  Dublin — O'Brien  reelected  for  Limerick — Meagher  j 

in  Waterford — The  Repeal  members — Grattan  on  the  Fam-  j 

ine — The  Irish  Council — The  Confederate  Clubs — Divi-  j 

sion   in  the  Confederation — John  Mitchel — Meeting  in  j1 

Dublin — The  French  Revolution  of  1848. — Its  effect   on  ] 

Ireland — Deputation    to   Paris — Arrests — Transportation  ^ 

of  Mitchel — End  of  the  old  JSation.  . 

] 

Previous  to  the  general  elections  which  i 

took  place  late  in  the  summer  of  1847,  the  j 

Council  of  the  Confederation  issued  an  ad-  ; 

dress  to  the  people,  asking  them  to  with-  '. 
hold  their  votes  from  Whig  and  Toiy  alike, 
and  not  to  support  any  person  who  claimed 

to   be   a    Repealer  unless   he  was  willing  ; 
to   pledge   liimself    against   place-hunting. 

They  did  not  put  forward  their  own  mem-  ■ 

bers  as  candidates,  but  expressed  their  will-  i 

ingness  to  aid  by  all  their  power  the  elec-  I 

tion  of  sincere  members  of  the  Association,  \ 

as  they  had  done  at  Galway  and  Cork,  on  ^ 

the   principle,  ''  that  the   first  qualification  i 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  261 

for  an  Irish  representative  was,  that  he 
slionkl  be  zealously  devoted  to  Irish  Inde- 
pendence ;  and  second,  that  he  should  be 
of  personal  integrity — one  who  would  not 
accept  or  solicit  office."  To  carry  out  these 
views,  they  sent  to  different  parts  of  tlie 
country  some  of  their  best  speakers,  such  as 
O'Gorman,  Meagher,  and  Doheny,  wher- 
ever their  presence  was  most  needed. 

John  O'Connell  was  the  first  person  to  feel 
the  effect  of  the  strict  and  salutar}^  test  of 
fidelity  to  Ireland.  He  had  become  notori- 
ous as  a  solicitor  of  offices,  and,  without  word 
of  apology  or  regret  for  so  doing,  had  offer- 
ed himself  as  a  candidate  for  Dublin.  At 
a  meeting  of  the  Council  soon  after,  it  w^as 
resolved  to  recommend  the  Confederates  of 
the  capital  to  vote  against  him.  The  news- 
papers in  the  interest  of  the  Castle  and 
Conciliation  Hall  took  occasion,  upon  al- 
luding to  this  resolution,  to  assert  that 
many  of  the  Council  dissented  from  it. 
Whereupon  letters  appeared  from  O'Gor- 
man, O'Reilly,  McGee,  and  O'Brien,  fully 
endorsing  the  cause  of  the  Council :     the 


262  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

latter,  in  particiilcir,   was    most    empliatic. 
Speaking  for  the  Confederates,  he  said  : — 

^'  We  believe  that  it  is  utterly  impossible  for  an  in- 
dividual to  be  at  the  same  time  a  true  Irish  patriot,  and 
a  time-serving  dependant — a  fawning  sycophant  of  an 
English  minister.  We  believe  that  the  character,  not 
only  of  the  Irish  members,  but  also  of  the  whole  Irish 
nation,  has  been  irretrievably  degraded  in  the  opinion 
of  mankind  by  the  pliant  subserviency  exhibited  dur- 
ing the  present  year  by  many  who  call  themselves 
Repealers.  We  believe  that  the  national  interests  of 
our  country  have  been  sacrificed  to  the  private  interests 
of  individuals." 

After  this  the  friends  of  John  O'Connell 
withdrew  his  name. 

O'Brien  was  soUcited  by  his  Limerick 
constituency  to  allow  his  name  to  be  put  in 
nomination.  This  he  refused  on  the  ground 
that  Powell,  who^  was  intended  to  be  his 
colleague,  though  a  Repealer,  "  had  avowed 
himself  to  be  a  place-hunter,"  and  that  Mr. 
Monsell,  though  otherwise  qualified,  was 
not  a  Repealer  at  all :  adding,  however  ^ 
^'  If  the  electors  of  the  county  feel  disposed 
to  return  me,  without  expecting  that  I 
should   commit   myself  to  the   support   of 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  263 

either  of  the  other  candidates,  I  shall  con- 
tinue to  serve  them  as  their  representative 
to  the  best  of  my  ability."  The  electors 
accepted  his  conditions  and  returned  him 
triumphantly. 

Thomas  Francis  Meagher  was  requested 
to  stand  for  his  native  city;  and  as  the 
Wateiford  men  could  not  find  a  member  of 
the  Repeal  Association  independent  enough 
to  forswear  place-begging,  he  reluctantly 
consented.  His  opponents  were  Costelloe, 
one  of  the  meanest  sort  of  Whig-Repealers, 
and  Henry  W.  Barron,  a  gentleman  of  high 
standing.  The  latter  was  elected ;  for  though 
Meagher  was  highly  popular  with  the  un- 
franchised masses,  the  select  minority  who 
were  privileged  to  vote  were  not  yet  edu- 
cated up  to  the  true  national  standard.  The 
young  orator  had,  however,  what  he  valued 
more  than  a  seat  in  the  English  Commons, 
a  fair  and  full  chance  to  explain  to  his  fel- 
low-townsmen the  objects  and  aims  of  the 
Confederation  in  his  own  eloquent  and  ir- 
resistible manner. 

The  total  result  of  the  general  elections, 


264  THE  MEN  OF '48. 

as  far  as  Ireland  was  concerned,  was  of  lit- 
tle advantage  to  that  unfortunate  country ; 
for,  though  more  Repealers  were  chosen, 
they  were  generally  of  the  worst  kind,  such 
as  J.  O'Connell,  Reynolds,  and  Somers,  all 
time-servers  and  Whigs  in  slim  disguise. 
The  labors  of  the  Confederates'  were,  how- 
ever, not  thrown  away ;  for  a  few  indepen- 
dent nationalists  were  sent  to  London  to 
save,  if  for  nothing  else,  the  country  from 
utter  disgrace. 

In  the  latter  part  of  September,  a  body 
called  the  Irish  Council  held  its  first  meet- 
ing under  the  presidency  of  Lord  C Ion- 
curry.  The  attendance  was  numerous,  and 
consisted  of  several  members  of  parliament, 
noblemen,  landlords,  professional  gentle- 
men, and  farmers.  They  were  of  all  shades 
of  opinion:  Confederates  and  old  Irelanders, 
Whigs  and  Tories  of  the  more  independent 
stripe,  and  individuals  of  no  fixed  opinions  ; 
their  ostensible  object  being  to  take  into 
consideration  the  grievances  of  Ireland 
and  provide  a  remedy  for  them.  Several 
meetings  of  this  body  were   held    during 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  265 

the  autumn  and  winter  of  1847-8,  but  no 
practical  results  followed.  There  was  one 
advantage,  however,  derived  from  those 
miscellaneous  gatherings.  They  were  at- 
tended by  many  of  the  prominent  members 
of  the  Confederation,  who,  in  the  usual 
course  of  business,  never  failed  to  impress 
on  the  minds  of  their  audiences  their 
own  spirit  of  earnest,  untiring  endeavor  to 
regain  the  lost  independence  of  the  nation. 
Many  converts  to  their  views  were  made 
in  this  way;  some  of  them  like  Lords  Ross 
and  Wallscourt,  R.  D.  Ireland,  Ferguson, 
and  others,  being  men  of  substance  and 
brains. 

The  Irish  Confederation  did  not  place 
much  confidence  either  in  the  Irish  Council 
or  the  so-called  ''  Repeal  delegation"  to 
Parliament.  They  were  fully  alive  to  the 
fact  that,  if  any  good  was  to  be  effected,  it 
must  be  through  the  people  and  by  the 
people.  Henry  Grattan,  M.  P.,  the  son  of 
the  illustrious  man  of  '82,  struck  the  proper 
key-note  when  he  said  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Irish  members : — 


266  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

"  If  you  address  the  Lord  Lieutenant,  yon  address  an 
individual  :jv^lio  has  no  power — if  you  address  Downing 
street,  you  address  a  body  that  has  no  heart — but  if 
you  address  the  Irish  people,  you  address  men  wiio  have 
both  hands  and  hearts.  If  some  active  measures  be 
not  taken  to  rouse  the  country  from  the  peril  in  which 
it  is  placed,  I  am  determined  to  write  as  strong  a  letter 
as  I  can  to  the  people  of  Ireland ;  for  I  will  not  staud 
quietly  by  and  see  the  people  dying  about  me  in  hun- 
dreds— nor  will  I  consent  to  act  the  part  of  a  grave- 
digger,  and  run  the  risk  of  bringing  fever  into  my  house, 
which  I  was  almost  brought  to  last  year,  for  any  min- 
ister or  any  queen.  It  is  impossible  to  go  on  in  this  way 
— I  say  it  as  a  landed  gentleman,  and  a  man  of  feeling. 
So  dreadful  were  the  narratives  of  human  suffering 
which  were  received  by  the  Central  Relief  Committee 
in  their  rooms  in  College  Green,  that  I  have  seen  Irish 
gentlemen — some  of  the  first  men  in  the  country — turn 
their  faces  to  the  wall  in  order  that  others  could  not  see 
the  tears  falling  from  their  eyes.  Again  I  repeat,  we 
cannot  continue  to  go  on  in  this  way  j  and,  in  my  opin- 
ion, if  you  wish  to  influence  and  arouse  the  country,  you 
should  address  the  Irish  people." 

What  Mr.  Grattan  proposed  was  already 
being  practically  carried  out  by  the  Coun- 
cil of  the  Confederation.  But  they  did  not 
limit  themselves  to  empty  and  meaningless 
appeals.     They  knew  well  that  the  strength 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  267 

of  all  political  parties  lies  in  thorough  or- 
ganization, and  they  therefore  adopted  the 
system  of  national  clubs,  each  being  in  its 
proper  sphere  an  independent  body,  but  in 
direct  communication  with  the  general 
Council.  Each  club  was  to  have  its  own 
officers  elected  by  the  members,  its  library, 
reading-room,  and,  when  possible,  its 
gymnasium ;  its  regular  nights  of  meeting, 
reports,  debates  and  lectures  on  political, 
scientific,  and  literary  subjects  ;  and  it  was 
hoped,  not  without  reason,  when  the  cities, 
towns,  villages  and  hamlets  of  the  four 
provinces  were  thus  overspread  by  a  net- 
work of  such  societies — all  working  for  the 
same  purpose  and  obeying  a  single  author- 
ity— the  time  would  be  near  at  hand  for 
the  whole  mass  of  the  people  to  rise  simulta- 
neously and  demand  justice  and  the  restora- 
tion of  their  pilfered  rights.  The  plan  may 
not  have  originated  with  Duffy — for,  save 
in  its  application  to  Ireland,  it  can  scarcely 
be  called  an  original  one  in  any  sense — but 
it  is  certain  that  he  of  all  among  the  Con- 
federates was  the  most  active  in  advocating 


268  THE  MEN  OF  '48.  . 

its  adoption  in  tlie  Council,  and  tlie  most 
energetic  in  executing  it  among  the  people. 
Nothing  could  have  better  suited  his  or- 
ganizing ability,  nor  could  any  scheme  be 
devised  more  aptly  calculated  to  give  cohe- 
sion and  unity  to  the  national  movement. 
In  Dublin,  where  it  was  first  tried,  its  suc- 
cess was  beyond  all  exiDCctation.  Club  after 
club  was  founded  in  the  city  in  October, 
November,  and  December  of  1847,  each 
bearing  a  distinctive  title ;  such  as  the 
'^  Sarsiield,"  "  Dr.  Doyle,"  ^'  Grattan," 
^' St.  Patrick's,"  '' Wolfe  Tone,"  '' Curran," 
and  ^' Emmet,"  or  "Swift"  Club;  the  pre- 
sidents of  Avhicli  were  generally  prominent 
leaders  in  the  Confederation.  When  the 
names  of  Irish  patriots  were  exhausted, 
others  were  added,  such  as  the  "  Medical 
Students'  Club,"  the  "  Mercantile  Assist- 
ants', "  &c.,  &c.  On  certain  nights  one  or 
other  of  these  societies  held  an  open  meet- 
ing in  its  rooms,  when  lectures  were 
delivered  or  debates  took  place  on  some 
public  topic  of  general  interest;  and  by 
this   means   were    constantly  brought    to- 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  269 

getlier,  for  tlie  intercliange  of  opinions,  men 
of  different  walks  of  life,  who,  under  ordi- 
nary circumstances,  would  ne^'^er  have  met 
or  known  one  another.  The  moral  effect  of 
these  locpd  associations  was  only  second  to 
their  political  utility.  They  were  compos- 
ed for  the  most  part  of  young  men,  wliose 
evenings,  particularly  in  cities  and  large 
towns,  were  too  often  spent  in  frivolous 
or  deleterious  amusements  ;  but,  by  gather- 
ing them  in  where  good  books  were  plenti- 
ful and  pleasant  companionship  always  to 
be  found,  it  not  only  crystallized  their 
opinions,  but  removed  them  from  many 
excesses  and  temptations. 

The  example  of  the  metropolis  was  soon 
followed  by  the  provincial  towns,  and  every- 
where clubs  began  to  spring  up,  founded  on 
the  same  plan.  Deputations,  also,  were  oc- 
casionally sent  from  the  Council  to  Cork, 
Belfast,  Limerick,  Kilkenny,  and  other  cen- 
tres of  population,  to  awaken  the  attention 
of  the  people  to  the  necessity  of  exertion, 
as  well  as  to  explain  to  them  the  principles 
upon  which  the   Confederates  proposed  to 


270  THE  JVIEN  OF  '48. 

work  for  the  general  good.  Thus,  though 
the  people  were  sorely  afflicted  by  contin- 
ued famine  and  increasing  pestilence,  and 
depleted  by  a  vast  hegira  of  fugitives 
across  the  Atlantic ;  though  the  great  Asso- 
ciation founded  by  O'Connell  had  degener- 
ated into  worse  than  imbecility ;  and  the 
various  attempts  of  well-meaning  but  im- 
practicable men,  such  as  mainly  composed 
the  Irish  Council,  the  Agricultural  Society, 
and  the  National  Council,  had  come  to 
naught, — the  new  year  opened  to  the 
survivinsr  nationalists  with  something-  Hke 
hopefulness  and  trust  in  the  future.  Twelve 
months  more  of  uninterrupted  organization, 
it  was  hoped,  and  the  whole  country  would 
be  one  congeries  of  clubs,  willing  and  ready 
at  a  moment's  notice  to  move  at  the  sugges- 
tion of  the  Confederate  Council.  The  very 
idea  of  such  a  result  gave  strength  to  the 
weak,  and  confidence  to  the  doubtful  and 
despondent. 

The  hopes  of  the  nationalists  were,  how- 
ever, destined  to  be  nipped  in  the  bud  even  in 
their  hour  of  greatest  promise,  and  that,  too, 


THE  MEN  OF '48.  271 

by  dissension  in  tlieir  own  ranks.  It  began 
to  be  generally  whispered  in  the  clubs  that 
serious  differences  of  opinion  had  sprung  up 
in  the  Confederate  Council  and  among  the 
writers  of  the  Nation^  on  the  question  of  con- 
tinuing the  agitation  on  the  original  princi- 
ples of  the  Confederation,  or  of  abandon- 
hig  them  in  favor  of  armed  resistance  to 
the  payment  of  rents  and  summary  eject- 
ments. Those  in  favor  of  the  former  cause 
urged  that  all  hope  of  redi-ess  by  peaceful 
means  was  not  exhausted,  that  the  people 
were  neither  yet  properly  organized,  nor 
in  a  condition  to  sustain  their  demands  by 
force,  and  that  any  attempt  to  induce  them 
to  do  so  would  be  promptly  suppressed  by 
the  government,  and  all  chance  of  rescuing 
the  country  from  her  degraded  position 
would  be  indefinitely  postponed.  Those 
who  were  in  favor  of  a  change  pleaded  the 
failure  of  the  Irish  Council,  the  passage  of 
the  new  Coercion  bill,  which  would  soon 
disarm  all  the  people,  and  the  protracted 
famine ;  adding  that,  as  the  masses  would 
die  anyhow,  it  was  better  for  them  to  die 


272  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

with  arms  in  their  hands-  than  as  helpless 
paupers. 

Mitchel,  entertaining  the  latter  views,  and 
having  severed  his  connection  with  the 
Nation,  wrote  a  long  explanatory  letter  to 
Duffy,  dated  on  the  7th  of  January,  1848 ; 
in  which,  after  clearly  stating  his  reasons 
for  so  doing,  he  thus  laid  down  his  own  ideas 
as .  to  the  proper  course  to  be  pursued  by 
the  Confederation : — 

"  With  reference  to  tlie  future  direction  wliicli  should 
be  given  to  the  energies  of  the  country,  and  of  the 
Irish  Confederation,  I  desired,  in  the  first  place,  once 
for  all,  to  turn  men's  minds  away  from  the  English  parlia- 
ment, and  from  parliamentary  agitation  of  all  kinds.  I 
have  made  up  my  mind  that,  inasmuch  as  the  mass  of  the 
people  have  no  franchises,  and  are  not  likely  to  get  any  j 
and  inasmuch  as  the  constituencies,  being  very  small, 
very  poor,  and  growing  smaller  and  poorer  continually, 
are  so  easily  gained  over  by  corruption  and  bribery  j 
and  inasmach  as  any  combination  of  the  ^gentry'  with 
the  people  is  now  and  henceforth  impossible, — that,  for 
all  th^se  reasons,  any  organization  for  parliamentary  or 
constitutional  action  would  be  merely  throwing  away 
time  and  strength,  and  insuring  our  own  perpetual  defeat. 
Therefore  I  desired  that  the  Nation  and  the  Confeder- 
ation should  rather  employ  themselves  in  promulgating 
sound  instruction  upon  military  affairs — upon  natural  lines 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  273 

of  defence  which  make  the  island  so  strong,  and  the 
method  of  making  those  avaiUible — upon  the  construc- 
tion and  defence  of  field-works,  and  especially  upon  the 
use  of  proper  arms — not  with  a  view  to  any  immediate 
insuiTection,  but  in  order  that  the  stupid  '  legal  and  con- 
stitutional' shouting,  voting,  and  ^agitating,'  that  have 
made  our  country  an  abomination  to  the  whole  earth, 
should  be  changed  into  a  deliberate  study  of  the  theory 
and  practice  of  guerilla  warfare  j  and  that  the  true  and 
only  method  of  regenerating  Ireland  might,  in  course 
of  time,  recommend  itself  to  a  nation  so  long  abused 
and  deluded  by  '  legal '  humbug." 

Duffy  could  not  consent  to  the  expres- 
sion of  those  radical  opinions  in  the  Nation^ 
holding  them  to  be  impracticable  and  delu- 
sive ;  and  hence  the  retirement  of  his  con- 
frere, and  the  establishment  soon  after  of  a 
paper  called  the  United  Irishman.  John 
Mitchel  for  over  two  years  had  been  one 
of  the  ablest  and  most  original  writers  of  the 
Nation^  a  good  speaker,  and  had  been  a 
prominent  member  of  the  old  Association 
and  the  '82  club.  He  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  Irish  Confederation,  and  among  the 
most  active  promoters  of  its  opinions  in  the 
Council  and  elsewhere ;  and  though  many 
of  his  associates  found  it  difficult  to  agree 


274  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

with  the  new  policy  he  had  marked  out  for 
himself,  none  doubted  the  honesty  of  his 
convictions  or  the  sincerity  of  his  purpose. 
He  was  born  in  Deny  in  1815,  and 
became  a  practising  solicitor  in  Banbridge 
before  he  entered  into  public  life,  during 
which  his  whole  career  was  marked  by 
strong  Presbyterian  strictness  and  rectitude. 
Had  he  but  lived  half  a  century  previous, 
he  would  doubtless  have  been  a  prominent 
United  Irishman. 

The  differences  of  opinion  which  sprung 
up  in  the  Nation  office  soon  found  their 
way  into  the  Council,  and  gave  rise  to  long 
and  animated  debates.  The  great  majority 
of  the  members,  however — notably,  Duffy, 
O'Brien,  and  McGree — were  opposed  to  the 
abandonment  of  the  existing  agitation.  On 
the  plea  that  the  Council  no  longer  repre- 
sented the  opinions  of  the  Confederates  at 
large  on  this  question,  an  appeal  to  the 
members  generally  was  demanded  and 
granted.  A  public  debate  therefore  took 
place  in  the  Rotundo  on  the  evenings  of 
the  2d,  3d,  and  4th  of  February,  in  which 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  275 

nearly  every  prominent  Confederate  in 
the  city,  and  many  from  the  provinces,  took 
part.  The  question  was  on  the  following 
resolutions  introduced  by  O'Brien  : — 

"Resolved: — That  inasmucli  as  letters  published 
by  two  members  of  this  Council  have  brought  into 
question  the  principles  of  the  Irisb  Confederation,  and 
have  given  rise  to  an  imputation  that  we  are  desirous 
to  produce  a  general  disorganization  of  society  in  this 
country,  and  to  overthrow  social  order,  we  deem  it 
right  to  place  before  the  public  the  following  funda- 
mental rule,  as  that  which  constitutes  the  basis  of 
action  proposed  to  our  fellow-countrymen  by  the  Irish 
Confederation  : 

"  Rule. 

*'  I.  That  a  society  be  now  formed  under  the  title  of 
*  The  Irisb  Confederation/  for  the  pm-pose  of  protecting 
our  national  interests,  and  obtaining  the  legislative  in- 
dependence of  Ireland,  by  tbe  force  of  opinion,  by  the 
combination  of  all  classes  of  Irishmen,  and  the  exercise 
of  all  the  political,  social,  and  moral  influences  within 
our  reach. 

"II.  That  under  present  circumstances  the  only 
hope  of  the  liberation  of  this  country  lies  in  a  move- 
ment in  which  all  classes  and  creeds  of  Irishmen  shall 
be  fairly  represented,  and  by  which  the  interests  of  none 
shall  be  endangered. 

"  III.  That  inasmuch  as  English  legislation  threatens 


276  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

all  Irislimen  with  a  common  ruin,  we  entertain  a  confi- 
dent hope  their  common  necessities  will  speedily  unite 
Irishmen  in  an  effort  to  get  rid  of  it. 

'^  IV.  That  we  earnestly  deprecate  the  expression  of 
any  sentiments  in  the  Confederation,  calculated  to  repel 
or  alarm  any  section  of  our  fellow-countrymen. 

"V.  That  we  disclaim,  as  we  have  disclaimed,  any 
intention  of  involvmg  our  country  in  civil  war,  or  of 
invading  the  just  rights  of  any  portion  of  its  people. 

'^  VI.  That  the  Confederation  has  not  recommended, 
nor  does  it  recommend,  resistance  to  the  payment  of 
rates  and  rents,  but,  on  the  contrary,  unequivocally 
condemns  such  recommendations. 

"  VII.  That,  in  protesting  against  the  disaraiament  of 
the  Irish  people,  under  the  Coercion  Bill  lately  enacted, 
and  in  maintaining  that  the  right  to  bear  arms,  and  to 
use  them  for  legitimate  purposes,  is  one  of  the  primary 
attributes  of  liberty,  we  have  had  no  intention  or  desire 
to  encourage  any  portion  of  the  population  of  this  coun- 
try in  the  perpetration  of  crimes,  such  as  those  which 
have  recently  brought  disgrace  upon  the  Irish  people ; 
and  which  have  tended,  in  no  trifling  degree,  to  retard 
the  success  of  our  efforts  in  the  cause  of  national  freedom. 

^'  VIII.  That  to  hold  out  to  the  Irish  people  the 
hope  that,  in  this  present  broken  and  divided  condition, 
they  can  liberate  their  country  by  an  appeal  to  arms, 
and  consequently  to  divert  them  from  constitutional 
action,  would  be,  in  our  opinion,  a  fatal  misdirection  of 
the  public  mind. 

"  IX.  That   this  Confederation   was  established  to 


THE  MEN  OF  '43.  277 

obtain  an  Irish  parliament,  by  the  combination  of 
classes,  and  by  the  force  of  opinion,  exercised  in  con- 
stitutional operations ;  and  that  no  means  of  a  contrary 
character  can  be  recommended  or  promoted  through  its 
organization,  while  its  present  fundamental  rules  remain 
unaltered. 

"  X.  That  while  we  deem  it  right  thus  emphatically 
to  disavow  the  principles  propounded  in  the  publications 
referred  to  in  the  resolutions,  we  at  the  same  time 
equally  distinctly  repudiate  all  right  to  control  the 
private  opinions  of  any  member  of  our  body,. provided 
they  do  not  affect  the  legal  or  moral  responsibility  of 
the  Irish  Confederation." 

This  resolution  was  supported  by  the 
mover,  by  Duffy,  Meagher,  Dillon,  McGee, 
O'Gorman,  Doheny,  and  a  number  of  lead- 
ing Confederates;  while  the  amendment, 
which  read  as  follows,  was  sustained  by 
Mitchel,  Reilly,  Martin,  and  a  few  others  of 
lesser  note : — 

Amendment :  "  That  this  Confederation  does  not 
feel  called  upon  to  promote  either  a  condemnation  or 
approval  of  any  doctrines  promulgated  by  any  of  its 
members,  in  letters,  speeches,  or  otherwise^  because 
the  seventh  fundamental  rale  of  the  Confederation  ex- 
pressly provides  :  '  That  inasmuch  as  the  essential  bond 
of  union  amongst  us  is  the  assertion  of  Ireland's  right 
to  an  independent  legislature,  no  member  of  tlie  Irish 


278  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

Confederation  shall  be  bound  to  the  adoption  of  any 
principle  involved  in  any  resolution,  or  promulgated  by 
any  speaker  in  the  society,  or  any  journal  advocating 
its  policy,  to  which  he  has  not  given  his  special  con- 
sent, save  only  the  foregoing  fundamental  principles  of 
tlie  society.' " 

The  entire  proceedings  were  conducted 
with  decided  ability  and  becoming  gravity, 
the  greatest  order  and  decorum  prevailing 
throughout ;  and  at  its  termination,  upon  a 
vote  being  taken,  it  was  found  that  the  large 
majority  of  the  Confederates  ]Dresent  sus- 
tained the  resolution  and,  of  course,  rejected 
the  amendment.  Thenceforth  Mitchel  and 
Reilly  ceased  all  active  participation  in  the 
Council,  but  continued  to  advocate  their 
peculiar  views  in  the  columns  of  the  United 
Irishman ;  Duffy  and  McGee,  with  the  entu-e 
staff  of  the  Nation ,  except  one  or  two,  con- 
tinuing the  work  of  quiet  and  steady  organ- 
ization of  the  people  in  their  journal.  In 
the  metropolitan  clubs,  the  differences  be- 
tween the  leaders  had  naturally  found  an 
echo  ;  but,  so  far  from  disturbing  their  good 
feeling  and  harmony,  they  were  impelled  to 
greater  exertions,  and  the  number  of  new 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  279 

clubs  that  were  springing  up  in  the  prov- 
inces became  greater  than  at  any  other 
period.  Though  personally  liked,  the 
course  of  Mitchel  and  his  friends  had  little 
perceptible  effect  on  the  aims  of  the  body 
of  the  Confederates,  the  large  circulation  of 
the  United  Irishman  notwithstandino-.  It 
was  only  later,  when  the  news  of  the  French 
Revolution  of  February  arrived,  that  the 
young  men  of  the  country,  excited,  misled, 
and  misdirected,  began  to  talk  of  arming  and 
fighting,  of  rifles  and  barricades.  The  com- 
motion excited  over  all  Europe  by  that  event 
quickly  reached  Ireland ;  and  thousands, 
who  neither  knew  how  to  load,  much  less  to 
fire,  a  musket,  spoke  of  nothing  but  warfare 
and  revolution.  They  forgot  that  DubHn 
was  not  Paris,  that  a  three  days'  insurrec- 
tion there,  inaugurated  by  myriads  of  armed 
men,  was  simply  to  overthrow  a  dynasty, 
not  to  war  against  a  hostile  nation,  more 
populous  and  infinitely  more  wealthy  than 
themselves,  with  fleets,  armies,  an  inexhaust- 
ible treasury,  and  the  armed  possession  of 
every  available  portion  of  their  soil.     How- 


280  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

ever,  tlie  madness  of  the  hour  prevailed,  and 
even  infected  many  of  the  less  far-seeing-  of 
the  members  of  the  Council.  From  this  mo- 
ment the  clubs  were  fatally  doomed.  They 
had  been  devised  to  embrace  all  the  people 
in  a  political  and  literary  union,  and,  should 
future  circumstances  require,  for  ulterior 
objects.  They  were  now  turned  into  mere 
shows,  in  which  full-grown  men  babbled, 
like  boys,  of  shaking  the  ''  foundations  of 
the  British  empire,"  and  boys  discoursed 
learnedly  on  the  ''  queen  of  weapons,  the 
pike,"  and  the  most  improved  methods  of 
*'  appealing  to  the  god  of  the  barricades."  It 
is  sorrowful  to  look  back  and  contemplate 
how  many,  otherwise  intelligent,  sincere, 
and  brave,  men  allowed  themselves  to  be  led 
astray  by  the  ignis  fatmis  of  forcible  resist- 
ance, at  a  time  when  their  country,  famine- 
stricken  and  desolated,  was  never  more 
powerless,  or  ignorant  of  the  art  of  war, 
and  their  enemy  never  so  strong  by  foreign 
alliances  and  domestic  prosperity. 

The  Nation,  true  to  its  instinctive  pru- 
dence and  wisdom,  endeavored  to  repress. 


THE  MEN  OF  '4d.  281 

as  niucli  as  possible,  this  ebullition  of  empty 
declamation,  but  with  only  partial  success. 
Men  of  mature  thought,  who  knew  so  well 
that  the  Confederation,  though  it  had  won 
over,  many  individuals  to  their  side, ,  had 
not  yet  succeeded  in  gaining  the  confidence 
of  the  clergy  or  of  the  mass  of  the  Repealers, 
strove  with  all  their  might  to  moderate  the 
ardor  of  their  less  experienced  associates, 
but  with  little  practical  effect.  They  were 
even  in  some  instances  carried  away  in  the 
torrent  of  excitement. 

New  fuel  was  added  to  the  flame  by  the 
action  of  the  Confederation  on  the  15th  of 
March,  when  an  address  of  congratulation 
to  the  French  people  was  adopted.  A 
Committee  of  three,  O'Brien,  Meagher,  and 
Hollywood,  was  sent  to  Paris  to  present  it 
to  Lamartine  ;  and  returned  after  fulfilling 
its  mission,  with  fair  words  and  a  trico- 
lor flag.  O'Brien,  on  his  return,  stopped  a 
while  in  London,  and  appeared  in  the  House 
of  Commons  for  the  last  time.  In  attempting 
to  address  the  members,  he  was  assailed 
with  hisses,  catcalls,  and  other  unseemly 


282  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

demonstrations  of  hostility,  all  of  wliicli, 
however,  he  bore  with  unshaken  coolness 
and  treated  with  contempt.  The  evil  fruits 
of  the  change  of  policy  on  the  part  of  the 
majority  of  the  Council  were  soon  developed. 
In  March,  O'Brien,  Meagher,  and  Mitchel 
were  arrested,  and  held  to  bail  in  Dublin 
for  sedition;  and  about  the  same  time 
McGee  and  Hollywood  were  taken  up  in 
Wicklow  on  the  same  charge.  The  two 
latter  were  discharged  on  the  preliminary 
examination ;  in  the  case  of  O'Brien  and 
Meagher  the  juries  disagreed,  but  Mitchel, 
having  had  a  second  indictment  framed 
against  him  under  the  charge  of  treason- 
felony,  was  tried  on  the  latter,  found 
guilty,  and,  on  the  27th  of  May,  was  sen- 
tenced to  fourteen  years'  penal  servitude. 

It  was  Mitchel's  object,  it  has  been  alleged, 
by  his  bold,  able,  and  very  stirring  articles  in 
the  United  Irishman^  to  rouse  the  country 
to  arms,  to  raise  a  direct  issue  with  the  Castle 
authorities,  and,  by  throwing  himself  into 
the  breach,  to  bring  at  once  the  peoj)le  and 
their  oppressors  face  to  face  in  armed  array. 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  283 

If  such  were  his  aims,  he  had  sadly  mis- 
taken the  strength  and  temper  of  the  people. 
Dubhn  at  the  time  was  filled  with  troops; 
and  the  Confederates,  if  they  had  ever  been 
willing  to  attempt  an  insurrection,  would 
have  been  slaus^htered  without  even  the 
poor  satisfaction  of  being  able  to  make  a 
decent  fight.  The  most  noisy,  and,  of  course, 
the  least  practical,  spoke  of  the  advisability 
of  such  a  measure,  but,  as  the  time  for  action 
approached,  their  numbers  dwindled  away 
into  a  knot  of  four  or  fiye.  The  Council 
after  this  was  reduced  to  twenty-one  mem- 
bers, as,  being"  more  wieldv  and  thus  ren- 
dered  more  select,  it  was  thought  it  would 
exhibit  greater  sagacity.  But  the  time 
foreseen  by  the  supporters  of  O'Brien's  res- 
olution and  rule  in  the  preceding  February 
had  arrived,  and  the  ''law "was  about  to 
crush  the  Confederation. 

John  Martin,  who  had  established  the 
Felon  as  a  successor  to  the  United  Irishman, 
was  arrested  on  the  8th  of  July,  and  on  the 
19th  of  August  was  sentenced  to  transpor- 
tation for  ten  years.     Kevin  Izod  O'Dough- 


284  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

erty,  and  R.  D.  Williams  of  the  Tribune, 
were  also  put  in  prison  at  the  same  time ; 
and  the  former,  after  three  trials  being  con- 
victed, was,  on  the  30th  of  October,  also 
sentenced  to  a  like  term  of  years.  Wil- 
liams was  acquitted  on  a  legal  technicality. 
Duffy,  the  head  and  front  of  the  Confeder- 
acy, was  on  the  same  8th  of  July  lodged 
in  Newgate,  but,  though  three  times  tried, 
the  government  failed  to  convict  him,  owing 
to  the  refusal  of  each  jury  to  agree.  While 
in  jail  and  before  his  trial,  the  Nation  was 
summarily  seized  by  the  police,  and  the 
property  of  both  publishing  and  printing 
office  destroyed.  Thus  ended  the  first  chap- 
ter in  the  history  of  that  remarkable  journal, 
whose  last  editors,  at  the  moment  of  its 
extinction,  were  two  ladies, — Mrs.  Dr.  Callan 
(Thornton  McMahon),  and  Miss  Elgee,  now 
Lady  Wilde,  so  well  known  by  her  nom  de 
plume  of  ''  Speranza ;  "  and  the  writer. 

Some  short  time  previous  to  the  happen- 
ing of  these  events,  an  attempt  was  again 
made  to  unite  all  the  Repealers  in  one  har- 
monious whole  and  upon  a  common  basis, 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  285 

but  the  project  again  failed  lamentably;  and 
all  hope  for  Ireland,  for  one  generation  at 
least,  vanished.    As  a  last  resort,  and  to  meet 
the  demands  of  their  Repeal  opponents,  the 
Irish  Confederation  had  resolved  to  abandon 
its  distinctive  organization,  and  help  to  form 
a  new  one  on  a  basis  which,  it  was  hoped, 
would    meet    the    wishes    of    all    sincere 
nationalists ;  but  the  hope  was  vain.     The 
variance  of  opinion  was  so  great  that  no 
permanent    union    could    be    established. 
The  Confederate  Council  having  ceased  to 
exist,  the  clubs  of  Dublin  and  the  neigh- 
borhood elected  a  Directory,  consisting  of 
Dillon,  O'Gonnan,  McGee,   Meagher,  and 
Reilly ;  but,  owing  to  the  general  confusion 
prevailing  in  the  City  and  the  suspension 
of  the  Habeas  Corpus,  they  had  only  one 
meeting,  at  which  it  was  informally  agreed 
that,  while  McGee  would  first  proceed  to 
Scotland  and  then  to  the  North  of  Ireland, 
the  others  should  go  to  the  South  to  join 
O'Brien  and  Doheny,  the  latter  of  whom, 
it  was  reported,  had  a  large  number  of  men 
already  in  arms  in  his  native  county. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

Attempts  at  insurrection  in  fhe  South — The  affairs  at 
Ballingarry — Escape  of  Dillon,  Doheny,  O'Gorman,  and 
McGee. — Arrest  of  O'Brien,  Meagher,  O'Donohoe,  and 
McManus — Their  trial  and  conviction — O'Brien's  in- 
trepidity— Character  of  O'Donohoe  and  McManus — 
Meagher's  speech — Last  of  the  Irish  Confederation. 

While  Duffy  and  the  other  prisoners 
were  in  confinement  and  the  Habeas  Corpus 
act  was  suspended,  the  Dubhn  Confederates 
could  not  make  any  demonstration  what- 
ever, even  if  their  strength  would  have 
justified  such  a  course.  A  few,  indeed,  left 
the  city  to  join  the  leaders  in  the  provinces ; 
but  the  clubs,  as  it  was  always  anticipated 
in  case  of  an  insui-rection,  were  powerless. 
O'Brien,  Dillon,  Meagher,  O'Donohoe,  and 
McManus  repahed  to  Tipperary  whither 
Doheny  had  already  gone.  O'Gorman 
selected  Limerick  and  Clare ;  and  Reilly 
and  Smith,  the  county  of  Kilkenny. 

It  is  never  pleasant  to  dwell  on  the  failure 
of  a  national  cause,  particularly  when, 'a? 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  287 

was  the  case  of  the  Confederates,  its  cham- 
pions have  proved  individually  brave, 
resolute,  and  thoroughly  sincere.  But  the 
conduct  of  the  people,  from  whom  they 
hoped  quite  a  different  reception,  must  have 
quickly  convinced  them  that  all  those 
qualities  were  useless,  and  that,  so  far  from 
being  able  to  arouse  a  warlike  spirit  among 
the  peasantry  by  their  appeals,  they  were 
generally  looked  upon  with  susjDicion,  if  not 
dislike.  What  could  eloquence  and  daring 
do  with  a  crowd  of  half-starved  and  totally 
unarmed  peasantry?  Had  they  been  of 
even  higher  hope  and  loftier  attributes  — 
leaders  or  generals  who  knew  how  to  fight 
and  control  men  in  and  out  of  action,  which 
they  certainly  were  not,  they  could  neither 
have  infused  new  life  nor  given  successful 
direction  to  the  mass  of  famished  creatures, 
men,  women,  and  children,  who  crowded 
around  them,  and  who  infinitely  needed 
and  preferred  bread  instead  of  bullets. 
The  only  incident  which  occurred  previous 
to  the  arrest  of  O'Brien,  proves  this  conclu- 
sively.    On   the  morning  of  the  29th   of 


288  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

July,  O'Brien  and  his  friends  being  at  Bal- 
lingarry,  accompanied  by  a  crowd  of  two  or 
three  hundred  persons  of  both  sexes,  came 
in  sight  of  a  j)olice  force  of  forty-five  men 
under  Captain  Grant.  Grant,  upon  seeing 
who  was  in  his  front,  instead  of  marching 
forward,  turned  off  the  road  and  took 
possession  of  Widow  McCormack's  house, 
a  large  stone  building.  O'Brien's  followers 
surrounded  the  house;  and  upon  Grant  being 
ordered  to  surrender,  he  asked  for  half  an 
hour  to  deliberate.  This  was  granted ;  but 
before  its  expiration  the  people  began  to 
throw  stones  through  the  windows,  some 
of  which  struck  the  commander  and  several 
of  his  men.  The  order  was  then  given  to 
fire :  two  of  the  peasantry  were  instantly 
killed,  and  several  wounded.  An  attempt 
was  made  to  fire  the  house,  but  failed ;  and 
a  reenforcement  of  police  coming  in  sight, 
the  insurgents  retreated  in  confusion.  This 
was  the  last  organized  attempt  at  a  rising ; 
for,  shortly  after,  the  leaders  separated,  each 
to  take  care  of  himself  as  well  as  he  could. 
Doheny,  after  innumerable  wanderings,  got 


THE  MEN  OF  '4a  289 

to  France  by  way  of  England ;  Dillon  and 
Smith  left  Galway  for  America  in  August ; 
O'Gorman  took  shipping  from  Cork  for 
Constantinople;  and  McGee,  after  remain- 
ing  in  Deny  and  Donegal  till  all  hope  had 
vanished,  left  Lough  Foyle  for  the  United 
States,  where  he  landed  10th  October,  1848. 
The  fate  of  the  others  is  soon  told.  On 
the  6th  of  August  O'Brien  was  arrested  at 
the  railroad  station  in  Thurles  on  his  way 
home,  having  abandoned  all  hope  of  insur- 
rection. Meagher  and  O'Donohoe  were 
taken  a  week  after  on  the  road  between 
Clonoulty  and  Hollycross ;  and  on  the 
seventh  of  September  following,  McManus 
was  discovered  and  captured  on  board  the 
ship  N.  D.  Chase,  in  the  Cove  of  Cork. 
The  prisoners  were  sent  to  Kilmainham  jail, 
where  they  were  detained  till  a  special  com- 
mission was  appointed  at  Clonmel.  The  trials 
commenced  on  the  28th  of  September, 
O'Brien  being  first  put  to  the  bar.  Then 
followed  that  of  McManus  on  the  9th  of 
October;  O'Donohoe's  on  the  13th,  and 
Meagher's  three  days  after. 


290  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

These  trials  and  tlieir  results  were  all  of 
tlie  same  character — the  same  mockery 
of  justice  on  the  bench  and  corruption  in 
the  jury-box ;  but  the  government  were  re- 
solved to  secure  convictions,  and  even  the 
accused  did  not  seem  particularly  anxious  to 
palliate  their  ''  crimes,"  or  avert  the  doom 
which  they  well  knew  had  been  predeter- 
mined in  their  case.  Meanwhile,  the  public 
looked  on  half  bewildered,  if  not  wholly  in- 
different. They  were  all  of  course  found 
guilty. 

On  the  9th  of  October  the  penalty  of 
O'Brien's  patriotism  was  pronounced.  It 
read  as  follows  : — 

"  That  sentence  is  that  you,  William  Smith  O'Brien, 
be  taken  from  hence  to  the  place  from  whence  you  came, 
and  be  thence  drawn  on  a  hurdle  to  the  place  of  execu- 
tion, and  be  there  hanged  by  the  neck  until  you  are 
dead ;  and  that  afterwards  your  head  shall  be  severed 
from  your  body,  and  your  body  di\nded  into  four  quar- 
ters, to  be  disposed  of  as  her  Majesty  shall  think  fit. 
And  may  the  Lord  have  mercy  on  your  soul." 

On  the  23d  of  the  same  month  the  same 
sentence    was    pronounced    on    Meagher, 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  291 

McManiis,  and  O'Donolioe.  The  conduct  of 
tlie  condemned  throughout  was  singularly 
firm  and  collected.  "An  emment  Queen's 
Counsel,"  said  the  Freeman  of  a  subsequent 
date,  "who  was  present  during  the  awful  or- 
deal, speaking  of  O'Brien,  was  heard  to  give 
utterance  to  a  sentiment  so  truthfully 
graphic,  that  we  record  it  in  full :  ^  AVell,' 
said  he,  his  eyes  full  and  his  countenance 
flushed  with  emotion,  '  never  was  there 
such  a  scene — never  such  true  heroism  dis- 
played before.  Emmet  and  Fitzgerald,  and 
all  combined,  did  not  come  up  to  that — so 
dignified,  so  calm,  so  heroic.  He  is  a 
hero.' "— "  My  Lords,"  said  O'Brien  briefly, 
when  asked  the  stereotyped  question,  "it  is 
not  my  intention  to  enter  into  any  vindica- 
tion of  my  conduct,  however  much  I  have 
desired  to  avail  myself  of  this  opportunity 
of  so  doing.  I  am  perfectly  satisfied  with 
the  consciousness  that  I  have  performed  my 
duty  to  my  country — that  I  have  done  only 
that  which,  in  my  opinion,  it  was  the  duty 
of  every  Irishman  to  have  done,  and  I  am 
prepared  to  abide  the  consequences  of  hav- 


292  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

ing  performed  my  duty  to  my  native  land. 
Proceed  with  your  sentence." 

Patrick  O'Donolioe,  always  a  man  of 
few  words,  and,  tliougli  a  solicitor,  one  who 
would  have  handled  a  sword  or  musket 
better  even  than  he  did  a  pen,  replied  in  a 
few  brief  words. 

Terence  Bellew  McManus,  who  was 
next  called  up  for  judgment,  was  then  about 
thirty  years  of  age,  of  fine  physique  and  a 
most  genial  and  dauntless  heart.  He  had 
been  a  playmate  of  Duffy,  and  left  home 
with  him  for  Dublin  in  quest  of  fortune. 
He  afterwards  removed  to  Liverpool,  where 
by  industry  and  intelligence  he  not  only 
won  a  competency  for  himself,  but  was  the 
chief  promoter  of  every  movement  in  that 
city  for  the  advancement  of  his  indigent 
countrymen.  He  was  more  of  a  worker 
than  a  speaker ;  and  when  he  discovered  that 
there  was  a  prospect  of  fighting  in  Ireland, 
he  promptly  left  his  home  and  cast  his  lot 
with  the  Munster  leaders.  His  address  to 
the  court  was  also  short,  but  full  of  deep 
feeling  and  manliness.     Meagher  was  next 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  293 

arraigned,  and  liis  speech  was  such  as  might 
have  been  expected  from  so  noble  and  brill- 
iant a  victim.  We  are  not  aware  that  it  has 
ever  been  fully  and  accurately  reported,  but 
the  substance  is  doubtlessly  contained  in 
the  following  condensed  sketch.  He  said  : — 

"  My  lords,  it  is  my  intention  to  say  a  few  words  only. 
I  desire  tliat  tlie  last  act  of  a  proceeding  which  has  occupied 
so  much  of  the  public  time  should  be  of  short  duration. 
Nor  have  I  the  indelicate  wish  to  close  the  dreary  cere- 
mony of  a  State  Prosecution  with  a  vain  display  of 
words.  Did  I  fear  that,  hereafter,  when  I  shall  be  no 
more,  the  country  I  have  tried  to  serve  would  think  ill 
of  me,  I  might  indeed  avail  myself  of  this  solemn  mo- 
ment to  vindicate  my  sentiments  and  my  conduct.  But 
I  have  no  such  fear.  The  coiiratiy  will  judge  of  those 
sentiments  and  that  conduct  in  a  ligbt  far  different  from 
that  in  which  the  jury  by  whom  I  have  been  convicted 
Lave  viewed  them ;  and  by  the  country  the  sentence 
whicb  you,  my  lords,  are  about  to  pronounce,  will  be 
remembered  only  as  the  severe  and  solemn  attestation 
of  my  rectitude  and  truth.  Whatever  be  the  lan- 
guage in  which  that  sentence  be  spoken,  I  know  that 
my  fate  will  meet  with  sympathy,  and  that  my  memory 
will  be  honored.  In  speaking  thus,  accuse  me  not, 
my  lords,  of  an  indecorous  presumption.  To  the  efforts 
I  have  made  in  a  just  and  noble  cause  I  ascribe  no  vain 
importance — nor  do  I  claim  for  those  efforts  any  high 


294  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

reward.  But  it  so  happens,  and  it  will  ever  happen  so, 
that  they  who  have  tried  to  serve  their  countr}'-,  no  mat- 
ter how  weak  the  effort  may  have  been,  are  sure  to  re- 
ceive the  thanks  and  the  blessings  of  its  people.  With 
my  country,  then,  I  leave  my  memory — my  sentiments 
— my  acts — ^proudly  feeling  that  they  require  no  vindi- 
cation from  me  this  day.  A  jury  of  my  countr^anen,  it 
is  true,  have  found  me  guilty  of  tbe  crime  of  which  I 
stood  indicted.  For  this  I  entertain  not  the  slio^htest 
feeling  of  resentment  toward  them.  Influenced  as  they 
must  have  been  by  the  charge  of  the  Lord  Chief- Justice, 
they  could  have  found  no  other  verdict.  What  of  that 
charge  ?  Any  strong  observations  on  it,  I  feel  sincere- 
ly, would  ill  befit  the  solemnity  of  this  scene;  but  I 
would  earnestly  beseech  of  you,  my  lord, — you,  who 
preside  on  that  bench — when  the  passions  and  the  preju- 
dices of  this  hour  have  passed  away,  to  appeal  to  your 
conscience,  and  ask  if  your  charge  was,  as  it  ought 
to  have  been,  impartial  and  indifferent  between  the 
subject  and  the  crown.  My  lords,  you  may  deem  this 
language  unbecoming  in  me,  and,  perhaps,  it  may  seal 
my  fate.  But  I  am  here  to  speak  the  trath,  whatever 
it  may  cost.  I  am  here  to  regret  nothing  I  have  ever 
done — to  retract  nothing  I  have  ever  said.  I  am 
here  to  crave,  with  no  lying  lip,  the  life  I 
consecrate  to  the  liberty  of  my  country.  Far  from  it : 
even  here — here,  where  the  thief,  the  libertine,  the 
murderer,  have  left  their  footprints  in  the  dust ;  here, 
on  this  spot,  where  the  shadows  of  death  surround  me, 
and  from  which  I  see  my  early  grave  in  an  unanointed 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  295 

soil  opened  to  receive  me, — even  here,  encircled  by 
these  terrors,  the  hope  which  l^as  beckoned  me  to  the 
perilous  sea  upon  which  I  have  been  wrecked,  still  con- 
soles, animates,  enraptures  me.  No,  I  do  not  despair  of 
my  poor  old  country,  her  peace,  her  liberty,  her  glory. 
Foi  that  country  I  can  do  no  more  than  bid  her  hope. 
To  lift  this  island  up — to  make  her  a  benefactor  to  hu- 
manity, instead  of  being*  the  meanest  beggar  in  the 
world — to  restore  to  her  her  native  powers  and  her  an- 
cient constitution, — this  has  been  my  ambition,  and  this 
ambition  has  been  my  crime.  Judged  by  the  law  of 
England,  I  know  this  crime  entails  the  penalty  of 
death ;  bi^t  the  history  of  Ireland  explains  this  crime, 
and  justifies  it.  Judged  by  that  history,  I  am  no 
criminal — you  (addressing  Mr.  McManus)  are  no 
criminal — you  (addressing  Mr.  Donohoe)  are  no 
criminal — I  deserve  no  punishment — we  deserve  no 
punishment.  Judged  by  that  history,  the  treason  of 
which  I  stand  convicted  loses  all  its  guilt,  is  sanctified 
as  a  duty,  will  be  ennobled  as  a  sacrifice.  With  these 
sentiments,  my  lord,  I  await  the  sentence  of  the  court. 
Having  done  what  I  felt  to  be  my  duty — having 
spoken  what  I  felt  to  be  the  truth,  as  I  have  done  on 
every  other  occasion  of  my  short  career,  I  now  bid 
farewell  to  the  countiy  of  my  birth,  my  passion,  and 
my  death — the  countrj'^  whose  misfortunes  have  invok- 
ed my  sympathies — whose  factions  I  have  sought  to 
still — whose  intellect  I  have  prompted  to  a  lofty  aim — 
whose  freedom  has  been  my  fatal  dream.  I  offer  to 
that   country,  as  a  proof  of  the  love  I  bear  her,  and 


296  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

of  the  sincerity  with  wliicli  I  thought,  and  spoke,  and 
struggled  for  her  freedom — the  life  of  a  young  heart, 
and  with  that  life,  all  the  hopes,  the  honors,  the  en- 
dearments of  a  happy  and  an  honorable  home.  Pro- 
nounce, then,  my  lords,  the  sentence  which  the  law 
directs,  and  I  will  be  prepared  to  hear  it.  I  trust  I 
shall  be  prepared  to  meet  its  execution.  I  hope  to  be 
able,  with  a  pure  heart  and  perfect  composure,  to  ap- 
pear before  a  higher  tribunal ;  a  tribunal  where  a 
Judge  of  infinite  goodness,  as  well  as  of  justice,  will 
preside,  and  where,  my  lords,  many,  many  of  the 
judgments  of  this  world  will  be  reversed." 

A  writ  of  error  was  sued  out,  on  general 
grounds,  but  the  judgment  was  confirmed 
by  the  Lords.  Some  of  the  people,  with- 
out the  knowledge  or  consent  of  the  con- 
demned, petitioned  for  a  full  pardon  for 
them,  but,  as  might  have  been  expected, 
the  prayer  was  denied.  Their  sentence, 
however,  very  much  to  their  disappoint- 
ment and  chagrin,  for  they  had  no  desire 
to  live,  was  commuted  to  transportation  for 
life,  and  on  the  9th  of  July,  1849,  they  left 
Ireland  in  the  ship  of  war  Sivift  for 
Australia. 

Thus  closed  the  last  act  in  the  drama  of 
^48.      Looking  back   with  the  light  of  a 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  297 

quarter  of  a  century's  experience,  it  is  very 
easy  to  point  out  the  errors  which  were 
made  and  the  mistakes  committed  by  those 
highly  gifted,  enthusiastic,  and  thoroughly 
patriotic  gentlemen  ;  and  had  they  possess- 
ed the  gift  of  prophecy,  which  is  seldom 
given  to  men  for  secular  purposes,  they 
might  have  seen  and  avoided  in  the  future 
what  many  are  but  too  ready  to  condemn 
in  the  retrospect.  While  we  are  willing  to 
admit  that  there  was  not  among  them  a  man 
who  had  the  least  practical  experience  of 
military  affairs,  nor  many  who  were  used 
to  the  science  of  government,  we  cannot 
deny  them  those  qualities  which,  if  not 
conducive  to  success,  bring  no  disgrace  to 
defeat, — genius,  eloquence,  a  keen  sense  of 
honor,  and  varied  literary  attainments, — 
gifts  which  would  have  been  prized  and 
admired  in  a  free  government,  but  which  un- 
fortunately are  of  little  account  in  an  armed 
revolution.  It  were  idle  now  to  speculate 
on  what  might  have  been  the  result  if  the 
Irish  Confederation,  uninfluenced  by  the 
French  revolution  of  1848,  had  pursued 


298  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

the  even  tenor  of  its  way,  organizing  the 
country  into  clubs  and  keeping  clear  of  the 
meshes  of  the  law,  till  in  a  position  to 
defy  it,  if  necessary.  The  die  was  cast,  the 
movement  that  promised  so  fair  of  success 
failed,  and  it  will  be  for  the  men  of  this  or 
another  generation,  who  may  take  up  the 
struggle,  to  profit  by  the  mistakes  of  their 
predecessors. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

The  literature  of  tlie  Young  Ireland  party — James 
Clarence  Mangan — Denis  Florence  McCarthy — Richard 
D'Alton  "Williams — Lady  Wilde — The  Library  of  Ireland 
— Davis,  Dufiy,  Father  Meehan,  Doheny,  McNevin, 
Mitchel,  McGee,  McCarthy,  and  Mrs.  Callan — Their  legacy 
to  Young  Ireland  of  to-day. 

As  an  offset  to  the  failure  of  their  political 
projects,  the  ''  Young  Irelanders,"  the  ''Irish 
Confederates,"  or  the  "  Men  of  '48,"  as  they 
have  been  indifferently  called,  left,  not  only 
bright  examples  of  their  steadfastness  of 
purpose  and  unswerving  hostility  to  all 
English  parties  inimical  to  Ireland,  but 
they  have  bequeathed  to  Ireland  the  germs 
of  a  national  literature  which,  under  more 
favorable  auspices,  will,  it  is  to  be  hoped, 
grow  up  and  fructify  in  that  land  of  poesy 
and  eloquence.  The  five  volumes  of  the 
Nation  would  of  themselves,  if  nothing 
else  of  the  writings  of  its  contributors  re- 
mained, form  a  small  library  of  prose  and 
poetry,  more  valuable  than  scores  of  ordi- 


300  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

narj  books.  The  massive  prose  of  Duffy, 
the  electric  poetry  of  Davis,  the  sharp,  in- 
tense leaders  of  Mitchel,  the  solid,  practical 
reports  of  McGee,  the  erudite  reviews  of 
Reilly,  the  lighter,  but  exceedingly  pleasant 
sketches  of  Meagher,  and  the  songs  and 
ballads  of  most  of  those,  and  of  scores  of 
volunteer  contributors,  form  a  cyclopaedia 
of  politics,  literature,  and  verse,  unmatched 
in  the  history  of  journalism. 

But  those  men,  so  full  of  national  ideas, 
did  not  limit  themselves  to  the  columns  of 
a  newspaper.  They  established  and  car- 
ried on  for  nearly  two  years  a  series  of 
monthly  publications  known  as  the  "  Library 
of  Ireland,"  issued  by  Mr.  James  Duffy  of 
Dublin,  and  at  the  same  time  contributed 
valuable  articles  to  that  publisher's  Catholic 
Magazine  j\\iQ  University  Magazine^  and  other 
periodicals  and  journals,  besides  separate 
volumes  published  by  various  houses  in 
the  metropolis. 

Thus  James  Clarence  Mangan,  one  of 
the  earliest  poetical  contributors  to  the 
Kation,  as  well  as  the  most  original,  often 


THE  MEN  OF  '43.  301 

enlivened  the  pages  of  the  University  by 
his  quaint,  but  deeply  impassioned  odes 
and  songs,  some  of  which  were  translated 
from  the  Irish,  and  others  from  the  German. 
The  latter,  collected  in  two  handsome  vol- 
umes in  1847,  were  most  favorably  received 
by  the  public  and  press.  Mangan  was  a 
native  of  Meath  and  died  in  1849,  when 
scarcely  middle-aged,  leaving  a  large  num- 
ber of  fugitive  pieces,  many  of  which  were 
afterwards  published  in  book  form  by  Mr. 
ElKs. 

Denis  Florence  McCarthy,  also  another 
of  the  Nation^s  volunteer  staff,  still  we  are 
happy  to  say  in  the  land  of  the  living,  has  gen- 
erally been  looked  upon  as  the  sweetest  and 
most  accomplished  poet  the  country  has 
produced  since  the  days  of  Moore,  and  even 
in  some  particulars  he  has  been  regarded, 
not  without  reason,  as  superior  to  Ireland's 
immortal  bard.  His  detached  Irish  ballads 
and  songs  have  been  published  from  time 
to  time  in  separate  volumes,  and  his  trans- 
lations of  Camoens,  Lope  de  Vega,  and 
other  Portuguese  and  Spanish  writers,  have 


302  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

won  high  approbation  not  only  in  Europe, 
but  among  our  best  critics  in  this  country. 

Richard  D' Alton  Williams,  whose  name 
has  been  already  mentioned  in  connection 
with  the  Irisli  Tribune,  first  attracted  at- 
tention by  the  appearance  in  the  Nation  of 
his  "Misadventures  of  a  Medical  Student," 
a  series  of  poetical  sketches,  irresistibly 
comic  and  full  of  genuine  humor.  But  his 
genius  took  a  higher  flight  as  he  advanced 
in  3^ears,  and  some  of  the  most  powerful  as 
well  as  the  most  pathetic  songs  written  in 
the  Nation  during  the  Repeal  agitation  and 
the  famine,  were  from  the  pen  of ' '  Shamrock," 
his  usual  nom-de-jjlume.  We  are  not  aware 
that  his  contributions  to  the  literature  of  the 
period  has  yet  been  collected  in  a  permanent 
form.  He  emigrated  to  this  country  in  1850, 
and  died  in  the  South  during  the  late  war, 
while  pursuing  his  calling  as  a  physician. 

There  were  others,  also,  who  added  their 
tributary  streams  of  song  to  the  general 
flood  of  poesy  which  overflowed  the  land 
from  1843  till  the  failure  of  '48  ;  men  of  much 
merit,  and  great  sweetness  and  healthfulness 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  303 

of  tone.  They  were  Thomas  Davis,  ^Hhe 
Belfast  man ;  "  (I.  De  Jean)  Frazer,  from  the 
Brosna's  banks  ;  Michael  J.  Barry,  of  Cork ; 
'*  The  Kilkenny  man ;  "  Pigot,  son  of  the 
Chief  Baron  of  that  name ;  McDermott,  of 
Paris ;  Samuel  Ferguson,  and  a  host  of 
others  of  lesser  light,  or  whose  mask  has 
been  so  impenetrable  that,  though  their 
verse  is  admired,  their  names  are  altogether 
unknown. 

There  were  female  poets,  also, — women 
with  large  hearts,  warm  sympathies,  and 
passionate  attachment  to  their  native  land, 
who  could  wield  a  pen  and  weave  a  song  as 
deftly  as  they  could  ply  the  needle  or  adorn 
the  embroidery  frame.  Preeminent  among 
those  was  '^  Speranza,"  a  woman  of  remark- 
able depth  of  mind  and  power  of  expres- 
sion. Some  of  the  best  prose  articles  which 
appeared  in  the  Nation  in  1847-8,  were 
written  by  her,  but  she  is  best  known  for 
her  poetry,  which  was  ever  powerful,  elevat- 
ing, full  of  rhythm,  and  sparkling  with 
original  ideas.  Besides  her,  like  sister 
graces,  were  ''  Mary"  and  "  Eva,"  who,  if 


304  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

less  masculine  in  genius,  were  her  compeers 
in  melody  and  beauty. 

The  Library  of  Ireland,  of  which  there 
appeared  twenty-two  monthly  volumes, 
was,  with  few  exceptions,  devoted  to  his- 
torical works  and  essays  relating  to  Ireland, 
written  by  the  Young  Ireland  party.  The 
exceptions  were,  "  The  Ballad  Poetry  of 
Ireland,"  edited  by  Duffy ;  and  "  Davis 
Poems  "  by  Wallis,  and  one  or  two  works  of 
fiction  written  by  William  Carleton.  The 
most  prominent  and  the  most  instructive  of 
those  books  may  be  classed  as  follows : — 

In  History  :  "  The  History  of  the  Geral- 
dines,"  translated  from  Dominicus  O'Daly, 
by  the  Rev.  C.  P.  Meehan,  who  has  since 
become  so  well  known  as  the  translator  of 
^'  Lanzi  History  of  Painting ;  "  ^^  The  Fran- 
ciscan in  Ireland,"  and  other  works  ;  '^  The 
Confederation  of  Kilkenny,"  an  original 
work  on  Irish  history  from  1640  to  1652, 
by  the  same  author,  and  the  *'  Writings  of 
Bishop  French,"  which,  if  we  are  not  mis- 
taken, were  edited  by  the  same  learned 
clergyman. 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  305 

^^  The  American  Revolution,"  by  Michael 
Doheny,  is  a  succinct  and  readable  account 
of  our  own  struggle  for  independence,  and 
was  pai'ticularly  useful  at  tliat  time  in  Ire- 
land, where  nearly  all  the  school  books  and 
histories  used  were  written  from  an  English 
stand-point,  and,  of  course,  were  full  of 
prejudice  and  misstatement. 

^'The  Confiscation  of  Ulster"  and  ^'The 
Volunteers  of  '82,"  written  by  Thomas 
McNevin,  are  also  reliable  and  carefully 
written  books. 

In  Biograpluj :  John  Mitchel's  "  Life  of 
Hugh  O'Neil"  deservedly  holds  a  very 
prominent  place.  It  is  a  clear,  animated, 
brilliant,  and  withal  truthful  account  of  the 
career  of  one  of  the  greatest  soldiers  and 
most  astute  statesmen  that  modern  Ire- 
land has  produced.  The  man  who  actually 
defied  the  whole  power  of  Elizabeth  for  so 
many  years,  and  who  might,  if  any  one 
could,  have  united  Ireland  and  freed  her  at 
the  same  time,  deserved  a  good  biographer 
and  found  one. 

^'The  life  of  Art.  McMorrough,"  and  ''  The 


306  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

Irish  Writers,  "  by  Thomas  D'Arcy  McGee, 
are  historical  as  well  as  biographical  sketches 
of  two  very  different  epochs,  the  thirteenth 
century,  the  first  succeeding  the  invasion ; 
and  the  seventeenth,  wlien  the  scholars  of 
Ireland,  driven  from  home  by  the  penal  laws, 
were  to  be  found  in  every  part  of  the  con 
tinent.  On  the  appearance  of  the  latter 
work,  the  Btiblin  Mail  remarked:  "  It  is  a 
record  of  the  historians  and  churchmen  of 
that  troubled  period,  written  in  a  masculine 
and  philosophic  style,  and  in  a  tone  of  im- 
partiality most  excellent." 

"  The  Poets  and  Dramatists  of  Ireland,  " 
of  which  Denis  Florence  McCarthy  was  the 
author,  is  a  most  readable  work,  and  none 
the  less  attractive  that  it  was  written  by  a 
brother  poet.  ^'It  is,"  said  the  Cork  Ex- 
aminer^ ''  a  collection  of  concise,  but  com- 
prehensive biographies,  presented  along 
with  an  eleo^ant  introduction.  Manv  of 
those  considered  to  belong  solely  to  the 
sister  countr}^,  are  here  re-claimed  for  this, 
and  thus  further  commended  to  our  partiali- 
ties.    The  epitomized  lives  are  given  with 


THE  MEN  OF  '48.  307 

judgment,  and  nothing  essential  is  forgotten 
in  the  personal  or  intellectual  delineation  of 
character." 

Essays  :  ''  The  Casket  of  Irish  Pearls,"  a 
number  of  essays  on  Irish  subjects  selected 
from  the  best  authors,  was  collected  by 
Mrs.  Callan  under  the  name  of  '^  Thornton 
McMahon." 

''  Davis  Essays,"  edited  by  Duffy,  are  too 
well  known  and  too  highly  appreciated  to 
need  comment.  A  new  and  much  improved 
edition  of  them  was  lately  brought  out  in 
this  country. 

All  those  works  were  exceedingly  popu- 
lar at  the  time  of  their  first  appearance,  and 
many  of  them  have  run  into  numerous  edi- 
tions and  still  keep  their  place  in  the  fore- 
rank  of  Irish  literature.  They  were  all 
written  or  edited  by  men  of  superior  know- 
ledge, of  a  high  order  of  ability,  and  for  a 
purpose, — that  purpose  being  the  elevation 
and  purification  of  the  public  taste,  the  in- 
struction of  the  masses,  and  the  infusion  of 
correct  ideas  and  sound  national  sentiment 
into  the  minds  of  the  youth  of  Ireland. 


308  THE  MEN  OF  '48. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  men  of  '48, — some 
of  whom  have  long  since  passed  away,  and 
others  are  yet  among  us  who  have  not, 
we  are  happy  to  say,  outhved  their  earher 
affections, — have  left  us  some  "  footprints 
on  the  sands  of  time "  which  cannot  be 
erased,  and  which  the  young  Irishmen  of 
to-day  may  follow  with  advantage.  Let  us 
hope,  too,  that,  while  those  of  the  present 
generation  criticise  with  moderation  the 
politica.1  defects  of  the  men  who  deserved 
freedom,  even  if  they  did  not  achieve  it, 
they  will  not  forget  those  literary  memorials 
of  their  genius,  so  that  they  also  may  help 
"  to  create  and  to  foster  a  public  opinion  in 
Ireland,  and  to  make  it  racy  of  the  soil." 


THE  END. 


^^^f-^7^V 


DATE  DUE 

DEC 

1  9  .-uu 

1    0      —r 

^i.;y 

1    KJ-n 

1AKI       t   6 

in^f^ 

1  f  \  r  1        ' 

1  ^  M 

1     0    ^^ 

vJKi^l 

\     0     /.UU 1 

CAYLORO 

PRINTED  IN  U.S.A. 

BOSTON  COLLEGE 


3  9031  01211257  9 


i-^ 


